


An English Gal in New York

by TheReviewess



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angie does movies and stuff on the side, Angie is Pansexual, Bisexual Steve Bucky and Peggy, Broadway Star Angie Martinelli, Bucky has his arm, F/F, High School Teacher AU, M/M, Movie Star Angie Martinelli, Past Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Peggy also coaches soccer, Peggy and Angie are High School Teachers, Pilot Peggy, Soccer Player Peggy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-21
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-03-25 01:16:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 24,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3791185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheReviewess/pseuds/TheReviewess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Professional football player Peggy Carter is a wounded warrior who moved to America after her medical discharge from the RAF. While she recovers from a nearly fatal injury, the woman finds herself living with her best friend (and ex boyfriend) Steve Rogers and his current boyfriend James "Bucky" Barnes. In an attempt to better herself and continue living despite her injuries, Peggy takes a job at St. Patrick's Private School in New York City where she teaches history and coaches boys and girls soccer. What she didn't plan for is meeting the famous Angela Martinelli and working along side her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all. I know I have like fifty stories going on but this was fun to write. It won't update very often, I think, so I'm sorry about that. But i do have everything planned out so who knows! Anyway, this is loosely based of the High School Teacher AU that was floating around tumblr. The title is borrowed from (and modified slightly) the song Englishman in New York by Sting.
> 
> So here is the first chapter!
> 
> The: "no wonder why you’re the football coach damn you’re fit au" Chapter

_You see me walking down Fifth Avenue_  
_A walking cane here at my side_  
_I take it everywhere I walk_  
_I'm an Englishman in New York_  
\- Sting

* * *

 

Peggy Carter wakes up from one of her many nightmares due to a knock on her door. Sweat clings to her and all of her sheets have been tossed off the bed. The wifebeater that she fell asleep in is angled so strangely that her boobs seemed about the fall out of it.

“Hey Peg, you alright?” Came the concerning voice of her good friend Steve Rogers. Steve’s team of men had saved her as she fell from her fighter jet back two years ago. Her eject button had malfunctioned and so she had manually ejected herself. When she was stranded in hostile territory the Howling Commandos came to save her. She and Steve dated briefly, but after his best friend Bucky had been mortally wounded, it was clear that the Captain’s feelings for Bucky were far stronger than anything else. So they broke up.

“Fine.” Peggy quipped out. “Thank you.” She was focusing now on lowering her heart rate by taking deep breaths. It wasn’t every night that Peggy was locked in her faulty jet, but when she was it never failed to terrify her.

“Just making sure.” Steve told her through the door. He didn’t bring up her nightmares, he rarely ever did. “Bucky and I are making breakfast. Want me to make you a cup of tea?”

“That would be lovely, darling. Is Bucky making eggs again?” It was no secret that Peggy loved Bucky’s eggs. They were a hundred times better than powdered eggs and he always added amazing spices. Despite that Bucky was the reason Peggy and Steve ended their relationship, Peggy absolutely adored the former sergeant. Besides, he and Steve looked so cute together.

“He’s nearly done.”

“I’ll be out in a moment!” Her fear was soon replaced with glee. Out of everyone in the house, Peggy was the only one unable to cook. She could make smoothies and protein shakes, but not actual food.

Three minutes later Peggy was walking in the kitchen wearing a loose England Women’s Football shirt with the sleeves hacked off and a pair of football shorts. If either man noticed that Peggy wasn’t wearing a bra, they didn’t say anything. Bras were uncomfortable, or so they heard from Peggy’s infinite rants about them.

“Mornin’ Peg. Here’s breakfast!” Bucky told her with a smile. He set down a large plate full of scrambled eggs, bacon and a side of toast in front of her. Steve put down a large glass of apple juice and a cup of tea as well.

“What did I deserve to earn this breakfast?” Peggy asked with a laugh.

“We wanted to surprise you.” Bucky explained, now serving up his and Steve’s meal.

Steve put the plates on the table and then sat down. “We know Physical Therapy was really tough on you,” Steve started off.

“Don’t I know it!” Bucky added. Like Peggy, he also was forced to go through Physical Therapy. He had quite a bit of nerve damage done to his left arm on their deployment. While he still had his limb, it was difficult for him to use it properly.

“-so we wanted to treat you today for working hard and proving everyone that you can walk again. So we’re going to Six Flags!” Steve finally finished.

“Yeah Six Flags!” Bucky hollered happily, obviously pumped about the whole idea. “Oh! And we’re bringing a few friends!”

Peggy made a confused sort of sound, as if to ask why. She would have asked, had her mouth not been stuffed full of eggs. The men seemed to understand her though. After all, they had seen this behavior from her before. It was quite typical among service members.

“Because since you’ve moved to America, all you do is go to PT, practice soccer, read lame history books and do yoga or something.” Bucky told her.

“Taichi.” Peggy corrected, “And I go out…”

“Going to tea with the Jarvis’s is not going out.” Steve said simply. She looked about to argue, but Steve didn’t let her. “Neither is testing Howard’s guns at the range or helping Tony do whatever Tony does.”

Peggy huffed and then crossed her arms. Steve was right, she was quite the shut in. For the last few months all Peggy could do was read and roll around in a wheelchair. When she finally was able to start standing, Peggy had thrown herself back into the only thing that helped her feel alive. Football. Proper football, not the American football.

In her defense, it was summer vacation and not even sports training had started up. Peggy had gotten a job at a private high school as a history teacher. She would be teaching Ancient History and European History. Not only was she teaching, she was taking over as head coach for the boys and girls soccer.

“I suppose you’re right.” Peggy finally said, admitting defeat. “I guess knowing people that aren’t you, the Jarvises or the Starks would be useful.”

Steve and Bucky both beamed. “That’s our Peg!” They said simultaneously. The couple then looked at each other and high fived. Then Steve spoke again.

“Howard and Tony will be coming with us, so you’ll know someone!” Peggy was thankful for that. “Ok, we’ll clean up here. You go get ready to go. Everyone will be here in half an hour!”

“Alright, boys. Is there anything in particular that I should wear?” She asked, now standing.

“A swim suit! We’re going on water rides!”

 

* * *

Six Flags was packed. Peggy was shocked at how many people were going to the amusement park. She was even more shocked at how many people were in their group. Steve had invited the Howling Commandos. Howard and Tony had both shown up. Bucky’s sister Rebecca was there and the famous Angela Martinelli.

Now Peggy wasn’t sure how Steve and Bucky had become friends with a Broadway and Movie star, but they were. Angie, as she insisted upon, considered the men two of her best friends. She was also Peggy’s designated ride buddy for the rest of the day.

“So how did you meet those who dorks?” Angie asked her as they walked through the park. They had just gotten their tickets and entered. Steve and Bucky were leading the entourage and deciding what ride they would go on first.

“Well those two dorks, and their team, saved my life.” Peggy said with a smile. She watched her roommates and the Howlers argue about what rides to do first. Even Howard was in on the arguing while Tony was shaking his head and talking to (flirting with) Rebecca Barnes. “My plane went down over enemy territory and they rescued me.”

“Wow!” Angie replied in awe. “Really?”

“They had to do it twice.” Peggy admitted with a slight blush. “I have a horrible knack for getting myself in trouble.” Though the second time was far worse than the first. The first time she managed to hold her own until Steve’s came to extract her. The second time her plane, it exploded. That time her eject button actually worked but she was still caught in the crossfires of the explosion.

“Accident prone, huh?” Angie joked out. Peggy just shrugged, not really wanting to go into the subject more than she had to. Thankfully Angie could sense her discomfort, so she switched topics. “So, you’re a pilot, a professional soccer player and now a History teacher. What can’t you do?”

“I’ll tell you when I find out.” Peggy replied with a smirk. “But I never said I played football.”

“Your shirt has your name and soccer number… But also those idiots told me.” Angie said, pointing to the group of men that were still arguing about roller coasters. “They told me about you once you got the job at St. Pats. Is wanting to be a teacher a British thing or what? Because Fancypants is in the English department and-”

“You know Mr. Jarvis?” Peggy asked, interested.

“Well duh, English! I’m the Drama teacher at St. Pats!” Angie replied, laughing at Peggy’s shocked face. “Didn’t the boys tell you?” Peggy shook her head. “Those idiots! That’s partially why I came today! I had to meet the gorgeous new History teacher for myself!”

“And what is your first impression?” Peggy asked, almost scared to hear the answer.

“Impressed.” Angie replied with a devious grin. “I can see why you’re the new soccer coach because damn English, you’ve got legs for days and I sure as hell ain’t complainin’!”

“You should have seen them before my crashes.” Peggy finally said, a bit flustered by the famous actress complimenting her.

“Damn I wish.” Angie replied wistfully. “But oh well, I got plenty of time to stare at you. I have a limited time at Six Flags and I’m gonna enjoy this. You ready to ride roller coasters until you get sick?”

“I have spun out of control twice in a jet, I doubt a roller coaster will make me sick.” Peggy said with a laugh. “Shall we ditch the boys and go find our own fun?”

“I like the way you think, English.” Angie linked their arms together and then started leading her away from the arguing mass of men. “Later boys! Peg and I are gonna go ride Superman!”

The men looked up from their heated debate to see Peggy and Angie running off, laughing.

“Hey wait for us!”

 

* * *

It was nearing lunch when the group got off their last ride. Steve had insisted that they all go on the Congo Rapids. It was one of those tube rides where they all piled into a tube and were soaked by the man-made waterfalls. The group ended up filling an entire tube and Howard was running from side to side, trying not to get wet. It was an amusing site, but he managed to stay somewhat dry. That was more than could be said for everyone else.

When Peggy came off the ride, she felt like soggy cereal left in a bowl for three hours. Everyone else seemed quite happy to pull off their own shirts to ring them out and air dry, but Peggy refused. Instead her shirt clung to her body like a second skin, leaving little to the imagination for anyone (Specifically Angie).

Angie, like the rest of their group, had pulled off her shirt and planned to walk around in her bikini top. She was used to walking around barely clothed. After all, she had done more than enough of that on set for her last movie.

“How you feelin’ English?” Angie asked with a smile. She noticed Peggy was doing her best to wring out the wet shirt while keeping it on her person.

“Soaked.” Peggy replied, looking up at the actress with a small smile. “And very glad I didn’t put on any make up.”

“Whoa! hold the phone- you ain’t wearin’ makeup!?” Angie asked in shock. Peggy nodded. “You mean to tell me you look this gorgeous all the time?”

Now Peggy blushed wildly. Up ahead Steve and Bucky could see the whole scene and they just laughed to themselves. The two had gathered the bags they brought to the park. Thankfully they remembered towels and a spare shirt for Peggy. Unlike the rest of them, Peggy was incredibly self conscious, but for good reason.

“Hey Peg!” Steve called out, saving the English woman from getting too flustered. “we got a towel for ya, and your spare shirt. Figured you may want to dry off.”

Peggy nodded, “Yes thank you. I’ll be back in a moment.” The woman took the shirt and towel from Steve and hurried off to the bathroom where she could safely change. Well, she limped off to the bathrooms.

Once Peggy was out of earshot, Angie turned to Steve. “You couldn’t of waited a few more minutes? I was enjoyin’ the view.” She complained, while still watching Peggy’s retreating figure. Specifically watching Peggy’s perfect legs.

“Oh don’t worry. There will be plenty to enjoy when she gets back out.” After he said that, the man started to towel dry himself and then passed the towel to angie. She also started to dry herself off. By the time she finished, Peggy was back and she instantly understood what Steve was saying.

Peggy Carter had returned in a very tight red shirt that was nicer than her previous shirt. “Sorry I took so long the lines were a nightmare.” Peggy explained to the mostly dry group. They were all still shirtless since they hadn’t dried their shirts.

“No problem, we were letting our clothes air dry.” Steve said with a smile. “Now come on, let hit another ride before everyone finished lunch.”

The group happily raced off to jump in line for another thrill ride. Angie and Peggy simply walked behind them.Both couldn’t help but laugh at their childish antics. The two teenagers acted more adult than the actual adults. Though most of the adults also have two or three large glasses of beer by the time noon rolled around.

“Are they always like this?” Peggy asked, smiling at the crazy lot.

“Once you got some drinks in them, yeah.” Angie replied with a similar smile. “Steve and Bucky were always like that. Even as kids.”

“I see…” Peggy only knew what they were like on their deployment and from living with them. She had yet to attend some social event with the two. Though if parties with them were like this, she might not mind it.

“So do you always go hide and change?” Angie asked, curious as to why Peggy had run off. “I thought the military eat out all the self consciousness. Got a bad tattoo or something that you wanna keep hidden?” She joked out.

“Something like that.” Peggy replied tentatively. She honestly didn’t want to talk about it. Thankfully Angie could tell and she steered the conversation in a different direction.

“So when you hostin’ tryouts for your teams?” Angie asked with a smile. “You got a date?”

“Um, actually Monday.” Peggy said with a smile. “Ladies in the morning and the boys in the afternoon. It will be a long day of football.” Though in Peggy’s mind, there was no better way to spend her day. After playing professional for a few years, it was difficult to not be playing or doing something in relation to the game.

“Well I’ll make sure to drop by. Bring you a lunch or something. How do you feel about Italian, English?”

“I eat anything.” Peggy replied simply. “Never learned to cook.”

“Anything eh?” Angie waggled her eyebrows in a suggestive manner. It earned her a playful shove from Peggy.

“Oh don’t be lewd!” The brunette hissed playfully. “You’re just as bad as the men.”

“Oh English.” Angie replied, now taking her arm and pulling the taller woman close. “I’m worse!” She quickly declared with a proud grin. “Now come on, looks like those idiots got distracted by those games.”

Peggy let herself be pulled along by an excited Angie. The actress was certainly something. Whatever this something was, the Pilot seemed to like it.

* * *

By the end of their day at Six Flags, everyone of age had gotten tipsy. Peggy had been given a new soccer ball (bearing the image of Wonder Woman) thanks to the boys winning it in a silly game. Everyone had bought overpriced t-shirts and Howard bought a photo of all of them on one of the many roller coasters. Overall it was a successful day of celebration but when Monday rolled around, Peggy was regretting going to the theme park.

Groaning, she stumbled out to the living room where Steve was waiting to take her to the school. She wore the silly bright red Wonder Woman shirt that she and Angie had bought at Six Flags along with a pair of black shorts.

“I know you’ve successfully gotten through PT, but I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to be taking it easy.” Steve told her, passing the woman her cleats and a pair of bright red socks. “I mean Six Flags was your first day without a cane or anything and you’re still feeling it.”

“I’ll be fine.” Peggy insisted, pulling her bright red socks over her shin guards. “I’ll have the damn walking sticks with me. And a chair. I’ll sit if I feel tired.” Of course that was a lie. Peggy would push through because that was the kind of person that she was.

“If you say so…” Steve finally relented.

The two piled into the car and Steve drove Peggy off to the school for her try outs. The man helped her set up for them, meaning he did all the setting up while he forced Peggy to sit and stretch out her sore limbs. It was still clear that Peggy was still suffering from her war wounds. Exploding out a plane and having your legs crushed did that apparently.

Eventually Peggy did get up, using her damn walking sticks, and made her way over to Steve, kicking her silly new soccer ball as she went. While she wouldn’t admit it, she liked the new ball. It would be fun to mess around with.

“Thank you for helping.” She told him with a smile. “Did you ever play?”

“Nope. Wasn’t a sports kind of guy. Never really learned.” Steve explained with a shrug.

Without hesitating, Peggy passed him the ball. “And now you will.”

So the two practiced for a half hour, Peggy teaching Steve how to pass and control the ball. He was terrible and made Peggy go fetch the stray object on multiple occasions. However on the last time Peggy had to go play fetch, she was met halfway by a black haired teenager, holding the Wonder Woman ball.

“Nice ball, Coach.” The teen said with a smile. “I’m Maria Hill.”

Peggy’s face brightened at the sight of the teenager. “Ah yes, my Captain. It’s a pleasure to put a face to an email.” She let on of her walking sticks lean against her body so she could shake the teen’s hand.

“Looks like you aren’t in a wheelchair.” The girl pointed out. “So I don’t suppose you’ll need as much help.”

“Yes, I finished my therapy on Friday actually. They still insist that I use these for another few weeks, or months.” Maria could tell that her new Coach was not fond of that. “So naturally the first day I was free of them, I ran about and went to Six Flags completely unassisted.”

The two laughed a little at that, but they could both see that Peggy was paying for her mistakes today. “Well I’ll do my best to help. My Co-Captain, Natasha should be here any minute. She’s pretty punctual.”

Soon enough a slender redhead raced up to the group. “So you’re the new coach?” She asked Peggy. The new teacher nodded. “Natasha Romanoff. Co-Captain. Hill told me that you’re still banged up.”

“Yes, quite.” Peggy responded, “Walking unassisted is still a chore.” She then gestured to her walking sticks. “So I appreciate the help.”

“No problem.” Natasha told her. “Looks like you got something set up.” The three looked back over to the field and Steve who was standing there awkwardly. “And you found someone to distract everyone…”

“Oh that’s just Steve.” Peggy laughed out. She gestured for the man to come over, which he did. “Ladies, this is Captain Steve Rogers. Steve this is Maria and Natasha, my soccer Captains.”

“Nice to meet you.” Steve told them with a charming smile. “You all set, Captain Carter?” The man joked out. Peggy elbowed him for that. “Okay! Enough jokes!” Steve pleaded, not wanting to receive another hit to his stomach. “But seriously, are you alright? Do you need me to stay and help out?”

“I’ll be fine, Stevie. Now you can go home to Bucky and do whatever you two like to do when I actually leave the house. Lord knows you don’t get that often.” The idea seemed to appeal quite a bit to Steve and two minutes later he was driving away (but not before making sure that Peggy had enough water and a comfortable chair just in case she over strained her legs).

Thirty minutes later, all the hopefuls for the soccer team turned up and Peggy started her try outs. With the combined help from Maria and Natasha, They try outs went quite well. Peggy was able to pick out the girls for her Varsity and Junior Varsity team within two hours. There were no real surprises from anyone on the team, until after the tryouts were finished and a blonde girl raced up to hug Peggy.

“Glad to see you’re alive, Aunt Peg.” The blonde said with a smile. She had a strange mix of English and American accents, making her one of the most interesting girls at try outs. Not to mention she was quite good and only a freshman.

At this point everyone was leaving with the exception of Peggy’s two Captains who were looking over Peggy’s lists for team placements. Peggy had been forced back to her chair on the sidelines after she had stumbled over her own two feet, twice. She had been sitting for the last two hours of try outs and she hated it.

“I was alive when you last saw me,” Peggy argued while sporting a smile. “Also you were bloody terrible out there, Sharon.” She ruffled the standing girl’s sweaty hair and brushed it out of her face. Despite all the teasing, Peggy loved her niece.

“So I made Varsity.” The blonde, Sharon, inferred now sitting on her soccer ball next to Peggy’s chair.

“Naturally.” Peggy responded in a low voice. “My brother and I would be quite disappointed if you didn’t. Water?” She held up a large bottle for Sharon, who happily drank half the bottle. “Pig.” Peggy commented once she got her bottle back. “You get that from Harry.”

“You love me.” Sharon replied with a smile similar to Peggy’s.

“Only because I am forced.” The coach replied while smirking. “Now where is that idiot that I call my brother?” Peggy couldn’t see his car around, so he clearly hadn’t arrived.

“He’s probably hiding somewhere, not wanting to face your wrath.” Sharon deadpanned. Despite Peggy being the youngest child out of the Carters, she was probably the most terrifying. All of the siblings knew not to cross their baby sister.

“He would deserve it after how he reacted in the damn hospital.” Peggy growled, remembering how panicked Harrison Carter had been when he first saw Peggy. “I was tired and he wouldn’t let me sleep.” In all fairness, they didn’t want her to sleep lest she fell into a coma.

“He was worried for his baby sister!” Sharon told her in a sickeningly sweet voice. “His words not mine!” She quickly added before Peggy could glare at her. “But in all fairness, we were all terrified you weren’t going to make it. You didn’t see yourself. Even the docs thought you were a goner.” Sharon shuttered at the memory of her beloved aunt hooked up to multiple machines and barely holding on to her life.

“Well I’m here now.” Peggy replied, not wanting to relive that experience. “Feel like kicking the ball around while we wait for Harry to come ‘round?”

And that was how Sharon, Natasha and Maria found themselves laying on the field completely exhausted while Peggy stood over them with an arrogant smirk. The English woman’s legs were trembling, her body was covered in her own sweat but she had run a bunch of teens ragged and so she was accomplished with that.

“And that is how it’s done, ladies.” Peggy told them while smirking down at them. The three just groaned in response.

“Are all practices going to be this intense, Aunt Peg?” Sharon whined out. Her arms were covering her head to try and block the sun from her eyes. She was laying directly at Peggy’s feet and didn’t seem to care that the coach could use her head as a makeshift soccerball if needed.

“Aunt?” Natasha and Maria asked the blonde. They were laying on either side of the blonde girl on their backs.

“Yeah she’s my aunt.” Sharon replied out of breath. She didn’t even bother looking at the other two, she knew that they were shocked.

“That explains why the freshman is so good.” Maria said quietly. It also explained why Peggy had been watching the blonde more than anyone else in practice. “Explain a lot actually.”

“дерьмо.” Natasha mumbled out in Russian, unable to say much else.

“No swearing.” Peggy told the redhead quickly.

Before anyone could ask, Sharon piped up. “Aunt Peggy is fluent in like fifty languages.”

“Only fluent in three. The others are just passable.” Peggy replied simply. “Close your mouth, Natasha, that is so unbecoming for a- whoa!” It was at that moment when Peggy felt her legs give out right from under her. However instead of hitting the ground, someone had caught her from behind.

“Going down, English?” A familiar voice said playfully.

Peggy turned her head to see Angie supporting her from behind. The actress carefully lowered her to the ground and helped the woman straighten her legs out. “Angie! How long have you been here?”

“Long enough to watch the lady who can hardly walk beat out three teenagers in a three on one soccer match. I also brought lasagna as promised!” Angie said with a snicker. “Maria, Nat, aren’t you two supposed to be the Captains?” The two older girls just grumbled out something intelegible. “And, sorry hun I don’t know your name.”

“That’s my niece, Sharon.” Peggy said for the blonde (who rested her head on her aunt’s legs).

“I can see the resemblance.” Angie replied. Sharon had the same strong jaw like that Peggy had and they had the same nose. “If I didn’t know you were the baby of the family, Peg, I’d’ve expected you to be sisters.”

Sharon groaned at being compared to her terror of an aunt, but they did look very similar. Most people did think them as sisters. After all, Sharon was only eleven years younger than Peggy. That was a smaller age gap than Peggy and Harrison who were fifteen years apart.

“Sit up Sharon.” Peggy barked out, “That was nothing. If you really think you can follow in my footsteps, you will have to try much harder than this.”

Sharon slowly sat up and glared at her aunt. “I was just tryin’ to make you feel better. Boosting your self esteem.” She lied with a slight pout. One look from Peggy made her duck her head. “You win, Aunt Peg. I’ll try harder.” She did want to be a professional soccer player like Peggy, but damn was it hard.

“Good.” Peggy said with a satisfied grin. She leaned back against Angie had her eyes caught sight of a familiar black car pulling up. “It looks like my idiot brother is here.”

Just as Peggy said that,a finely dressed man stepped out of an Audi. “Sharon!” He called in a heavy English accent. “Get off the grass, it’s unbecoming for a lady!” He was quite tall, roughly Steve’s height and he was quite muscular like her friend.

“Aunt Peg’s on the grass!” Sharon shouted out weakly.

“And she’s as far from a lady as you can get!” He replied with a laugh. The tall man walked over to the women that were sitting (or laying in the case of the two Captains) on the grass. “Kick her arse again?”

“Naturally.” Peggy replied with a smirk. “Ran them all ragged. I made most of the girls vomit before the first hour like promised.”

Her brother, Harry, smirked and pulled a twenty from his wallet. “Your winnings oh brilliant sister of mine.” He explained while handing it to the woman, “Now may I steal my daughter away?”

“You may have to carry her.” Peggy said, looking at Sharon’s pathetic state. She was sitting up but barely.

“She’s not the only one who needs to be carried.” Angie mumbled from behind Peggy. However Harry seemed to hear her and he laughed.

“You fell over too?” He said with a slight laugh. The man felt bad for making fun of his still injured sister, but she was his sister and he did it anyway. “Harrison Carter, Peggy’s brother.”

“Angie Martinelli! I’m the drama teacher here.” Angie said with a charming smile. “Met this one on a Six Flags trip on Saturday and promised her some homemade lasagna for lunch today!”

“At least we don’t have to worry about her eating MREs anymore.” Sharon said with a smirk. She had slowly gotten to her feet and moved over to her father. Had she been a few inches closer, Peggy would have slapped her. “Just kidding, we know Steve and Bucky keep you well fed.”

“Go away you brat or I’ll put you on the JV team!” Peggy barked out.

Sharon ran away as best she could, laughing as she did. She was soon joined by Natasha and Maria, who went to retrieve their things and head home.

“She made varsity?” Harry asked Peggy.

“Are you honestly surprised?” Peggy asked her brother.

“Not in the slightest. How does she compare to everyone?”

“If I had to rack and stack, she would be fourth or fifth. I have my captain and another senior ahead of her. There is also a promising junior that I might stack above her.” Peggy answered honestly. “She has the making of a professional. I can write my American contacts and see what they would suggest but she’s on the right track - if she follows my training plans!”

“No one can follow those regimens.” Harry told her while keeping an eye on his daughter. She was happily conversing with her two new teammates.

“My team did just fine.” Peggy sassed out, “and who won the Olympic gold? Right, we did.”

“Well they are teenagers.”

“Teenagers that will become champions.” Peggy mumbled under her breath.

Harrison laughed. “Have fun with your lasagna. I’m taking my exhausted non champion teenager home.” Peggy grumbled out nonsense to him but he just laughed. “Are you coming to barbecue this weekend? Amanda’s family plans on coming.”

“You’ll have to come get me.” Peggy told him, now gesturing to her legs. “I’m not allowed to drive for an entire year.”

“We’ll talk.” Harry said while nodding. “C’mon Sharon. You stink.”

“So do you but you don’t hear me saying anything about it.” Sharon fired back with a devious grin. From behind the two, Peggy was cracking up and applauding her niece's fabulous come back.

Eventually it was just Peggy and Angie left sitting on the field. Angie didn’t mind having the very sweaty Peggy leaning against her, but they only had so long to eat. So she decided that now was time to get lunch.

"Can you move?” Angie asked her, looking over to the tired brunette.

“Not really.” Peggy replied shaking her head slightly. Her legs were trembling and she would have to rest before she could even try to move.

“Do you want me to help you back to your chair?” Angie offered, wanting to make Peggy as comfortable as possible.

“Do I have to?” The woman groaned. She didn’t want to move. She just wanted to lay on the grass and eat.

“Nah, we can eat right here if you want.” Angie said with a smile. “I got a blanket in the trunk we can sit on.”

“Sounds lovely.”

Angie disappeared for a few minutes to go get everything. Peggy ended up sliding backwards and she placed her hands behind her head. There were a few clouds in the sky but not many. Still, Peggy found amusement in cloud watching. There used to be a time when she never saw a cloud. So she took pleasure in seeing them once more.

“Enjoyin’ your cloud watchin’, English?” Angie asked her when she returned with a picnic basket and a blanket.

“There weren’t many clouds in the desert.” Peggy replied now sitting up. “A picnic?”

“Easiest way to carry food. Besides, picnics are fun.” The actress spread out her blanket and started to set up their lunch. She had brought bread, spread for the bread, lasagna and a bag of baby carrots and ranch dressing as a snack.

“Ah, I finally get to taste ranch dressing!” Peggy joked out, grabbing a baby carrot.

“You never had ranch?!” Angie asked in shock. “What did you dip things in?”

“Humus?” The soccer player asked out. Did Americans not eat humus or something?

“Well here, have some ranch! It’s delicious!”

Peggy heeded Angie’s advice and tried the ranch dressing. It was delicious, like the actress said. The moment she got a taste of it she wondered why she never ate it before. Then she remembered that it was completely fattening. To be honest, it reminded her a little bit like mayonnaise but Peggy wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like she was going to dip carrots into mayo jars now. But the ranch was delicious. Within two minutes she had eating a quarter of the bag of carrots.

“Alright there, English! Hold your horses! You still have lasagna! I slaved over this I’ll have you know.” Angie told her with a smile.

Peggy looked up mid bite to see Angie holding out a Tupperware full of lasagna. The athlete practically inhaled the ranch covered vegetable and then took the Tupperware from the woman. She chewed her carrot in a matter of second before looking down at the real meal. It was still warm, letting Peggy believe that Angie had made it earlier this morning or heated it up before arriving.

With one last look at Angie, Peggy took a bite. The lasagna was also delicious. The woman couldn’t even bite back a moan when she started eating. This was literally the best lasagna she had ever eaten. So, naturally, Peggy started inhaling the entire meal.

Angie couldn’t help but smile as she watched Peggy eat. The athlete was eating so much that her cheeks were bulging out like a squirrels. The small Tupperware was hugged close to her body like someone would take it away from her if she lost sight of it. Angie knew Peggy was former military (A Captain or Major if she remembered correctly) so her eating habits must have been something she picked up from it.

“Don’t choke, Peg.” Angie told her with a smile. To be honest, the pilot was simply adorable. And damn did she have a great body. Even though Peggy’s legs were still weak and unable to hold her up for long periods of time, Angie could still see that they were pure muscle and goddamn it was sexy.

“This is amazing, Angie!” Peggy finally said once she finished the entire slice. “You made this?”

“Yup!” Angie chirped out. “I learned young. My ma taught me and my sister. I like it.”

Peggy laughed. “I never learned. My sister did but not me. I was running around with the boys and playing football.”

“Well that explains it.” Angie replied with a grin.

“Explains what?” Peggy asked, now going back to the carrots.

“Why you’re so damn fit.” Angie explained. “You got the best legs I ever saw, and I’ve seen a lot of nice legs. Don’t even get me started on those arms of yours either! Next you’re gonna say you got a set of abs that could put some of the boys to shame.”

Peggy looked away and blushed. “I may have abs…” She mumbled while looking away.

“You got abs too?” Angie gaped. “You gotta show me!” Angie leaned over and grabbed at Peggy’s shirt, but before she could do anything, Peggy caught her.

“No!” the woman yelled, sounding panicked. She held Angie’s wrists tightly but the actress could see that her arms were shaking. “Please don’t.” Peggy managed out in a whisper.

“Okay…” Angie replied quietly. She instantly let go of the fabric. “I’m sorry Peg.”

“It’s fine.” Peggy mumbled out, now releasing her hold on Angie. “You didn’t know.”

“It’s no excuse. I shoulda asked.” Angie said firmly. “So how about you come over to my place and I’ll cook you a nice meal and we can get drunk and watch terrible movies together.”

“Only if we get to watch one of your movies.” Peggy bargained with a smirk.

“Which ever one you choose, mi’lady!” Angie told her dramatically.

“Than it’s a date.” Peggy said with a smirk.

“Well shoot, I’ll break out the good china then!”

The two laughed and then finished their picnic.

Just as the boys came for the soccer tryouts, Angie and Peggy had finished their meal and Angie had been putting everything back in her car. Peggy did her best to get to her feet but found herself unable. Thankfully one of Peggy’s boys helped her.

“Whoa! Got you Coach!” The boy said with a smile, catching her. He looked awfully familiar to her, but Peggy couldn’t place it. “Antoine Triplett. I’m co-captain with Clint.”

“Ah lovely to meet you, Antoine!” Peggy said in as chipper a voice as she could manage.

“Lemme help you to your chair.” The boy said with a smile. “You look like you’re doin’ real well for a woman who almost died by exploding out a plane six months ago!”

Peggy looked over to him in shock. How did he know she almost died? Especially the art about her plane. The most she had shared with her students was that she had an accident leaving her legs severely injured and that she was in Physical Therapy.

“Oh shoot!” Antoine said, looking at Peggy’s shocked face. “Gabe Jones is my uncle. He’s a Howler too!”

Then Peggy felt at ease. “No wonder you looked familiar!” She said with a relaxed smile. “You look quite a bit like Gabe!”

“He calls me the favorite nephew.” The boy told her, now helping her down into her chair. “You can call me Trip. It’s a lot easier to yell on the field.”

“Trip. Alright. I can do that.” Peggy agreed, now leaning back in her chair. She wouldn’t admit it, but she was happy Steve left it for her. At least he didn’t leave her wheelchair she was forced to be in a while ago. “But only if you help me with these tryouts and practices.”

“You don’t even have to ask.” Trip said with a smile. “My uncle said he’s have my ass if I didn’t help you out. Apparently you saved his ass quite a few times so I’m more than happy to help out.”

Peggy laughed. “Oh Gabe. I was exaggerating, really.”

“Whatever you say, Coach.” Trip replied with a smile. It was clear that he didn't believe a word she said. “Oh look, Clint’s here. Anything you want us to set up before the others get here?”

Peggy nodded and quickly told Trip what she wanted from him. A sandy haired boy, Clint she assumed, jogged over and Peggy repeated what she needed. The woman let both her Captains know exactly how tryouts would run that day. They nodded and started to set up for Peggy.

By the time all the boys had arrived, Angie had pulled out a lawn chair from her car and set up next to Peggy. She had another bag of carrots and some ranch dip in hand.

“You gonna run the ragged?” Angie asked while dipping a carrot into the ranch.

“I’ll make most of them vomit by the first hour.” Peggy vowed with a grin.

Angie laughed loudly. “If you can do that, English, I’ll cook whatever you want for that movie date. And get whatever drink you want!”

“I hope you make a good shepherd's pie because that’s how I like to take my bourbon.” Peggy told her with a smirk.

“You’re on, English.”

One hour later, Peggy Carter won their little bet and Angie didn’t even care. She was just stunned at how hard she ran the boys. She made sure to add comments about how her grandmother, bless her soul, could do better than them.

The entire first hour was Peggy just throwing one exercise after another at them until the vomited. It was almost if Peggy wanted them all to look terrible. Seniors and freshmen alike were on their knees vomiting what was left of their lunches and Peggy just snickered.

Eventually she moved on and found her own strength to walk and on her walking sticks. The last two hours were spent running drills to see how they handled basics and even how they worked together. It was in the first half of that did Peggy figure out her teams. However she used the second half to rack and stack her players from least work to the most work. Naturally her Captains were slots one and two.

Once everything was said and done, the boys all trudged to their cars. Peggy had exhausted them and she seemed quite proud of that. Her captains were sitting next to her chair, looking over her list and writing down any notes she might need to better solidify her team.

“Real solid list you got, coach.” Clint told her while handing the list back. “The only concern I have is some of the guys are real dicks.”

“We noted your problem children.” Trip told her with an exhausted smile. “But you picked real good players. And bumped some stupid ones down to JV where they belong.”

“Well thank you for your approval, boys. I will send out emails in a day or two. Practice starts next week.” The boys both nodded. “I’ve been informed that since the American Football team also needs the pitch, the boys and girls will be practicing together.”

“You don’t like practicing with the girls?”

“We don’t care about that,” Clint said quickly hoping to not offend his new female coach.

“The football team takes precedence over all sports. So they’ll probably throw their weight around. Mr. Dooley and Mr. Thompson are like that.” Trip explained with a grimace. “Those two are bad news. They don’t think soccer takes any skill.”

“Then I suppose we'll just have to kick their arses. After all, we are proper football players. Kicking is what we do best.”

Trip and Clint smiled. They liked their new soccer coach already.

 

* * *

 

Angie brought Peggy back to Steve and Bucky’s home just as it was getting dark. It was rather close to Angie’s place so she didn’t mind helping the woman. The two women pulled into the driveway. They could see the lights on and the TV going. Two heads were seen sitting on a couch watching the television.

“At least it’s safe.” Peggy laughed out, sounding relieved.

“Yeah that must be awkward sometimes.” Angie said, shuddering at the thought. She had walked in on Steve and Bucky kissing once before after they returned from Afghanistan.

“That's why I own earplugs.” Peggy deadpanned. She turned to look at Angie and then the two smiled and giggled at each other.

“So, I’ll pick you up at eight?” Angie asked her.

“Shepherds pie and Bourbon?” Peggy asked with a sly smile.

“Top shelf too.” Angie assured the English woman. “As long as you don’t mind if I have schnapps.”

“Not at all.” Peggy told her with a smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” The woman pushed the door open and started the awkward process of getting out of the car. Her legs were sore, very sore, so she had to use her walking sticks to hold her up.

“Alright.” Angie replied with a smile. “Do you need help getting out?”

“No.” Peggy told her through gritted teeth. “I can do this.”

“Okay.” Angie told her. The woman didn’t stay in the car though. Instead she unbuckled and slipped out. While she didn’t touch Peggy, she stayed by her side.

“I said…” Peggy huffed out, sounding rather tired. “That is didn’t need help…”

“I know,” Angie said with a soft smile. “I was just getting the door.” She told the pilot innocently while closing the door to her car. “And I figure if I walked you to the door I may get me a goodnight kiss and I couldn’t pass that chance up.”

Peggy laughed weakly. The two made their way, slowly, to the side door. Angie was about to reach for it when Peggy stopped by placing her hand over Angie’s. “I can do it.” She told the actress quietly.

Angie just smirked and laced her fingers with Peggy’s. “I know.” She told her, “I just wanted an excuse to hold your hand.” Oh yes, Angie Martinelli was one smooth lady.

“Well if that was it,” Peggy told her with a quirky grin, “all you had to do was ask.” She lightly squeezed Angie’s hand with her own. The small action caused her smaller grin to grow larger. “So what about that goodnight kiss?”

Angie beamed at Peggy and slowly closed the gap between their bodies. her free hand came to rest on Peggy’s hip. She could feel the athlete freeze up under her hand and she quickly looked up. Her hand lifted from it’s spot and she spoke, “I’m sorry is this okay?” Angie should have known after Peggy’s panicked reaction this morning.

“Y-yes,” the woman stuttered out. Her eyes focused down on Angie hand that was hovering over her hip. “Just, um, don’t move- um..”

Angie lowered her hand back to Peggy’s hip and looked Peggy in the eye, “I’ll leave it right here. No funny business, promise.” Angie squeezed the pilots hand reassuringly and then pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. “Night English!” Angie old her quietly but with a pleasant grin.

The woman removed her hand from Peggy’s hip and turned to leave. Before she could take a step, Peggy gripped her hand tighter.

“Wait-” Her voice cutting through the silence.

Angie turned and looked back at Peggy. The woman had put both of her walking sticks against the door and she was taking a very shaky step forward. Instinctively, Angie met her halfway and then wrapped an arm around her so that the tired woman wouldn’t fall.  “What are you doing, English?”

Peggy grinned, “I want a proper goodnight kiss.” She told the woman.

“Well,” Angie replied softly. She let go of Peggy’s hand and slowly brought her fingers up to brush against Peggy’s cheek. “All you had to do was ask.” Angie cupped Peggy’s cheek and the gently pulled her down for a kiss.

Their first kiss was simple and sweet. Their lips gently pressed against each other’s and perfectly contents to stay that way. All other thoughts left their mind as they enjoyed the feeling of their soft lips pressed together.

Peggy was the one who broke the kiss, but only to kiss Angie once more and with more force than the last. Her hands were gripping the actress’ shoulders in an attempt to keep her upright.

The two kissed a few more times, keeping it innocent as their first kiss (though a tad more forceful than that first one). They only broke apart when Bucky ripped open the door.

“Have a good day, Miss Union Jack?” Bucky called over the sound of Peggy’s walking sticks crashing down onto the floor.

Instantly Peggy ripped away from Angie, turned to Bucky and literally threw one of her cleats at him. They had already been loosened so it was easy for her to take off and throw with pinpoint accuracy. The hard part was landing back on her feet without falling. Thankfully Angie had caught her from behind so she wouldn’t fall.

“James Barnes you little prick!” Peggy hissed out.

Bucky was just laughing. Despite being hit with one of Peggy’s cleats, he was howling with laughter. “You should have seen your faces!” He howled happily. “That was hilarious! I wish I recorded that!”

“You’re damn lucky you didn’t.” Peggy growled at him.

“Well consider this payback for that time after you started walking with crutches and you didn’t tell us.” The man said, now rubbing his cheek. “Because that was rude.”

“I still have that picture, Barnes. Don’t make me use it against you.” Peggy warned him in a dangerously low voice.

By now Steve was at door. He slipped by Bucky and walked outside. “Alright you two.” He told them, trying to calm the internally raging Peggy. “Come on, Peg. Let’s get you a bath and some dinner. You’re gross.” Without even asking for her permission, Steve scooped Peggy up into his arms.

“I can walk!” Peggy tried protesting, knowing it would be useless.

“You were trembling.” Steve replied, not caring about her protests. “You would have fallen. You’re supposed to be taking it easy, not pushing yourself beyond your limits.” Peggy crossed her arms and grumbled out nonsense.

Steve then turned his attention to Angie. “Thanks for bringing her back.” His gaze flickered back to Bucky (who was stifling his laughter). “And sorry about Buck. He’s a real joker.”

“Aw it’s alright. I got brothers.” She explained as if this had happened before. Angie then placed a firm kiss to Peggy’s cheek. “Well, I better go! See you tomorrow Peg! Pick you up at eight, so be ready!”

“See you tomorrow!” Peggy called back to the actress. She watched Angie wave and then drive away. Once she was gone, Steve took her inside.

“Glad to see you had a good day.” Steve said in a teasing tone.

“Shut up.” Peggy mumbled with a smile creeping onto her face.

Steve carried her to the bathroom and let her sit on the toilet while he filled the bathtub. While Peggy insisted that she could do it, Steve did it anyway. She blamed his big bleeding heart. While Steve filled the tub, Peggy stripped down to her bra and underwear with her sweaty tshirt covering her body.

“I can handle it from here.” Peggy told him.

Steve looked up to seeing his friend practically hiding behind her sweat stained shirt. “Peg…” He started off quietly. “You don’t have to hide from me.”

“Or me!” Bucky said from the doorway. He had brought in her old wheelchair that she detested.

“Just go away…” Peggy mumbled out, waving her hand at them. “I don’t like them.”

“They don’t make you look any less beautiful.” Steve tried to assure her.

“Yeah Peg. They’re bad ass.” Bucky added, handing her a towel. “That's what Steve tell me.” he gestured to his left arm. Scars from the shrapnel injury could be seen from any angle, but Bucky didn’t hide them. “At least you came out alive.”

“How about you both just drop the subject and leave so that I can get naked and bathe in peace.” Peggy fired back.

“Why do we have to leave for you to get naked?” Bucky asked with a smirk. “Nothin’ we ain’t seen before!” That earned him a slap from Peggy, but it was worth it because she was laughing a little bit now. “Oh alright, come on, Steve. I know when I’m not wanted.”

They both laughed and left Peggy in peace. Though it was short lived because Bucky came back in seconds after Peggy had lowered her body into the warm tub.

“Oh and Peg!” Peggy looked up to see Bucky popping his head in the bathroom. “You got some lipstick on your cheek.” With that he left, laughing as he went.

Once he was gone, Peggy pressed her fingers to the cheek Angie kissed. She could feel the stickiness of the lipstick and she smiled. Peggy reached over to her cell phone and typed out a quick message to Angie.

_Your lipstick rubbed off on my cheek._

Moments later she got a reply.

_Damn._ Then in another speech bubble she added, _I wish it rubbed off on your lips instead._

Peggy giggled to herself and then typed out.  _You can do that tomorrow._

_Oh I plan on it!_

Now Peggy couldn’t wait for tomorrow. And it wasn’t because the shepherd's pie and bourbon. She was definitely more excited for those movie star kisses.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based loosely off the "our classrooms are adjacent to each other and we can always see each other through the door windows AU"

With the sports training having started up, Peggy quickly fell into a routine. She would wake up early to go walking and try and strengthen her legs. Afterward Steve would drop her at her practices and she would run her girls ragged in the morning. Every day she would have a picnic lunch with Angie (and occasionally Sharon would join them). Then the afternoons were spent running the boys ragged.

After practice, the two would either go to Angie’s apartment or Angie would take her home. But the two saw each other almost every day.

Today was different for Peggy’s routine. Mainly because Angie had brought her to the school. The actress’ car had two bins. They had gotten to St. Patrick’s earlier than usual because Peggy was now able to go see where her classroom was!

“So we can come back and decorate at lunch, right?” Peggy asked, wheeling herself alongside Angie. This morning Peggy had actually gone a run and she had managed a full mile before her legs started to give out. Since they were still shaky, Steve insisted that she bring her wheelchair.

“Sounds like a plan, English.” Angie told her happily. “Best lunch ever!” She lead Peggy through the halls until she came upon a very plain door. “And here’s your new home!”

The two walked in to see a very plain classroom. There was nothing out of the ordinary. The classroom was a little larger than Peggy expected but there was no way that she would be able to move through the rows in a wheelchair.

“Remind me to use my wheelchair as little as possible.” Peggy told Angie while she surveyed the room.

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll shout it across the hall.” Angie promised, setting a bin on Peggy’s new desk.

“What?” The woman asked while wheeling up to the desk.

“I’ll shout it across the hall.” Angie said while taking Peggy’s box off her lap. “My classroom is right there.” She pointed to he closed door directly across the hall from Peggy’s. “We’re like neighbors!”

“Well this just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?” Peggy asked with a smile.

“You know it.” The actress swooped down and placed a kiss on her cheek. “Now lets start putting some things up!”

For half an hour Peggy and Angie hung up posters and paintings involving history around the classroom. She had a lovely canvas painting of Athena, Goddess of wisdom and war, done by Steve and Bucky. The two had come up with an idea to paint Peggy as Athena. She laughed at them but decided to hang it in her class anyway.

A few framed maps were hung from the two world wars. Those maps had come down from Peggy’s family and sparked her interest in History. She also have various other pictures from older times, all family heirlooms that were framed.

“Geez Peg, where’d you get all this cool stuff?” Angie asked, pulling out an old sword that was hiding in a case. “I’m pretty sure they're gonna make you get rid of this later.”

“That belonged to an ancestor.” Peggy said, “And it is going to stay hidden under my desk.” She would bring it out when she talked about the middle ages once she was passed the plague.

“Your family was a bunch of knights?” Angie asked, placing the sword on Peggy’s desk.

“No.” Peggy told her with a smile. “Technically we’re nobility. My Grandfather is an Earl. When he passes the title falls to my uncle.”

Angie balked, “You’re kiddin’ me! You’re a Earl-ess or something?”

Peggy laughed and shrugged. “A Lady” Peggy managed out between giggles. “All I know is that I am the second youngest of the family. There is no way I’m getting any title. I’m just Peggy Carter.” The youngest was, of course, Sharon. Though apparently she was getting a little sibling or something. That was news brought up at the family barbecue. The same barbecue that Peggy dragged Angie to so she wouldn't feel alone around her brother's fancy friends.

Angie smirked and rolled her eyes. “Peggy Carter the star forward of the English National Team who won the damn Olympics and who also happens to be a pilot. Any other secrets you have?”

“Plenty, but you have to unlock them all.” The woman replied with a cocky smile.

"Alright there Lady Carter.” Angie said in a sassy voice. She placed a kiss to the woman’s cheek and put a lid on Peggy’s boxes. “C’mon, lets go. You only got one week before the first game and two weeks until school starts. Best get the coach to practice.”

Peggy nodded and the two left the classroom. They had a girls soccer team to train. Or so they thought.

When Peggy and Angie arrived on the scene, the practice field had been taken over by large group of boys with egg shaped balls. American football players.

Off to the side, Peggy’s JV and Varsity girls were holding their things looking very confused. Once they saw their coach, they all raced over and surrounded the Englishwoman. Cries of ‘Coach’ and one cry of ‘Aunt Peg’ rang out as the girl practically ran into Peggy.

“Now now ladies, what is going on?” Peggy asked, slowly standing up. Her legs were still shaky from her morning run, but she forced herself to stand anyway. Once she was standing, Maria and Natasha flanked her and acted as little shields and also made sure to catch her should she go down.

“We got here and the football team was tearing up our field.” Maria explained with her teeth clenched. “The boys just got back from football camp and feel like they own the place.”

“Don’t they have a perfectly good eggball pitch to play on?” Peggy asked, clearly confused. “Our pitch is set up for football, not eggball.” In an attempt to differentiate American Football and proper football, Peggy started calling the American Football: Eggball. Their balls looked like eggs so it was now proclaimed eggball.

“Mr. Dooley says he doesn’t want to mess up the eggball field.” Natasha replied bitterly. “So they decided to use ours since it also doubles as an eggball practice field.”

Well that was problematic. The first match was this Saturday. The JV teams went on in the morning while the Varsity kids were going on at night. Right now Peggy’s teams could probably win against any high school in the area but she didn’t want to just win. No, Peggy wanted to dominate.

Right now the girls all watched the American Football players. The two coaches seemed to be yelling at their players that were punting the ball. They stood off to the side and cringed at everyone’s form.

“Wow. Tough year for the eggball team.” Natasha said quietly.

“They haven’t had a good kicker since Jon Juniper graduated after freshman year.” Maria pointed out. “They should just use Mack.”

“Any one of us could do better.” Camilla Reyes replied. She was the team keeper who moved from Peru as a child. She, like Natasha, tried to swear and insult people in her native language. She soon learned that Peggy also knew Spanish.  Needless to say she stopped vocalizing any insults.

“Aunt Peg could do better and she can’t walk half the time.” Sharon muttered out.

Natasha was the only one who caught the blonde’s statement and she started laughing. Peggy looked up to the redhead who was trying not to fall over from laughing so hard. She then looked over to her blushing niece. Knowing that Sharon probably said something stupid, and also insulting to Peggy, she threw a ball at the back of the girl’s head.

“It was a compliment I swear!” Sharon cried out, rubbing the back of her head.

“I have no idea what you’re referring to.” Peggy replied, now watching the players failing miserably."Literally, I didn't hear you." Sharon rolled her eyes and grumbled out something Peggy couldn't here. “Oh bloody hell, will one of you go out there and show them how to punt properly? I think I’ll get sick watching them. Literally.”

Smirking, Camilla raced off, dragging the freshman JV keeper with her. The two were snickering as they ran behind the boys. No one seemed to pay attention to them. That is, until Camilla had produced an egg shaped ball and punted it farther and with more accuracy than any of the boys.

The ball went sailing over everyone’s head and landed in the grass a little over halfway down the field. When everyone turned to see where the ball came from, the saw Camilla standing where the end zone was set up with a smirk on her face.

Polite applause sounded from the girls and they were all smirking at the boys.

“Excellent form, Camilla.” Peggy called out not looking all that impressed. “Keep practicing. If you want to be scouted. Haley your turn.”

Without hesitating, Haley, a tiny brunette with glasses, punted her own ball though it was a soccer ball. It sailed farther than any of the ‘eggballs’ but still came up short compare to Camilla. Cheers followed Haley's performance but they were interrupted very quickly.

“What is the meaning of this?” A male voice shouted at the two girls.

“I was hoping you could tell me that.” Peggy called up. Everyone now turned to see the pilot rolling up in her wheelchair. “You see, the pitch is reserved for the football team. Not American football. So imagine my surprise when I find my pitch commandeered by some ragtag little boys team.”

“Excuse you!” A younger man yelled at Peggy. “What does a cripple know about sports?”

“Shut the hell up, Jack.” Angie growled from behind Peggy. Peggy was touched to see the little actress defending her. “Just because you came back from the Navy with the damn Navy Cross don’t mean you have to be an ass.”

“Aw there you are Angie.” The man said with a lecherous smile. “Are you finally here to accept my generous offer to be your boyfriend?”

Angie scoffed. “As if.” The actress growled out. “I wouldn’t date you if you were the last man on the planet. I’d date aliens before I’d date you!”

From behind Angie, the girls all started snickering. Even some of the boys were laughing outright. Peggy just smirked knowing that this Jack had no chance with Angie.

“Alright, enough of this lover’s spat.” The other coach growled. Roger Dooley if Peggy remembered correctly. “Why are you two interrupting my practice?”

“Why did you two take my pitch without asking?” Peggy fired back. “We’ve been using it since July. The sign literally says “Reserved for Varsity and JV Soccer”!” Though Peggy had crossed out Soccer and written “Proper Football, not the American kind” under the words. But still, it was hers.

“We needed it.” Dooley told her. “I don’t expect a woman to understand.”

“So you’re telling me that your pitch, which is literally made for you to practice and play on, is not being used by the American Football team?” Peggy asked. The coaches nodded. “Is anyone using it?” The men shook their head. “Then why the hell are you using my pitch?”

“Look lady, we are using this field today and you can’t stop us. So you and your little girls go find some place else to practice.” Jack Thompson spat out. “Now get out of our sight.”

The two men walked away from her and ordered their team back to practicing. The girls crowded around their coach and looked at her. They all had the same question running through their minds. What now?

“Well get your things ladies. We’re practicing elsewhere.”

* * *

Elsewhere had turned out to be the Football Stadium. The girls and the boys practiced there for the entire week since the football team had taken over the soccer fields. That didn’t stop Peggy though. Oh no, she was on a mission now. One does not simply fuck with Peggy Carter. 

When Friday night rolled around, the whole town had gathered to see a very muddy and worn looking field. The football team was confused. After all, they hadn’t been using their field for an entire week. Why did it look like it had been torn up by hundreds of cleats?

“Do you think they realize what we did?” Peggy asked her kids. She was wearing jeans, which was a first for her kids. Normally she would be wearing shorts of some kind. This evening she was in a pair of very nice fitting skinny jeans and knee high boots with Howlers Soccer jersey.

All off the soccer teams had shown up for the first football game of the season. Not because it as the first game, but because they wanted to see the look on Coach Dooley and Coach Thompson’s face when they saw their beloved field. It was hilarious. They all even wore their soccer jerseys so they would match. The sight was actually pretty cute.

“You give them way too much credit, Coach.” Trip told her with a laugh. “Eggballers ain’t that smart. Just arrogant.”

“I assume arrogance is a prerequisite for eggball?” Peggy asked the kids. They all either nodded or groaned. Either way, Peggy got the message. “Well then. It certainly explains a lot.” The group all laughed. “Now who is going to explain how this blasphemous game works?”

“We’ll explain as the game goes.” Maria said with a smile, “Sound good?”

“I suppose.” Her attention shifted back to the stands. Steve, Bucky and the rest of the Howling Commandos were supposed to be showing up to the game. Peggy and Angie had arrived at the stadium early because Peggy was to meet with her soccer teams and Angie was doing some sort of public event at the game.

“Hey Peggy!” A familiar voice called.

Peggy executed a quick about face and turned so see the Howling Commandos running up through the stands. “There you are!” Peggy called out happily. She moved down the steps as quick as she could and right into the arms of Steve Rogers. “I was wondering where you all were!”

“Sorry Peg, we all got lost looking for each other.” Steve told her with a laugh. “But we’re here now! You got us seats?”

“I’ve got us an entire row.” Peggy told them with a smile. “Come along!” Peggy lead the group up the steps and right in front of her teams. “Alright you lot, pack it in.”

“No chair today, Peggy?” Dum Dum Dugan asked her - referring to her wheelchair.

“Not this time. I’ve brought the canes.” She told him while sliding back to her own spot. “I figure I’ll be sitting most of the game anyway.” Steve, Bucky, The Howling Commandos and all of Peggy’s students laughed at her ignorance.

“What?” She asked, clearly confused.

“Oh Peggy.” Bucky said, slinging his arm over her shoulders. “You clearly know nothing about football.”

“Eggball!” The soccer kids all chimed out. Since Peggy had taken over, they liked to call their sport football and they called American football eggball. They found themselves picking up their coach’s mannerisms. Sometimes it was something like calling the field a pitch. Other times it was using British terms just because Peggy said them a lot.

“Eggball?” Steve asked, looking at his roommate. “You call American football eggball?”

“Well it’s not like they use their feet.” Peggy replied all defensive.

The kids and the adults all laughed and started conversing amongst themselves before the game started.

“Hey Trip. I bet you a hotdog that their kicker won’t even get the ball past the thirty!” Natasha hollered over to the Boy’s co-captain.

“Girl, I’ll take that bet.” Trip said with a laugh. “Their kickers can’t be that bad.”

“You’d be surprised.” Peggy mused.

They all quieted down when the Marching Band took the field for their pre game show. The school’s fight song was played loudly followed by a loud cheer of ‘Go Howlers!’ from all the students and fans. Next up was the Star Spangled Banner which was sung by none other than Angela Martinelli.

While Angie sang the National Anthem, Peggy along with the Howling Commandos all found themselves saluting the American Flag during the song. It was a habit that Peggy fell into when she had been deployed. She had learned the American customs and courtesies like they had learned English ones. So now the group did it instinctively.

After the last note rang out, the group dropped their salute and applauded. The marching band exited the field and the football team raced out to start the game.

“Hope you got the money for a loaded hotdog, Trip.” Natasha told her male counterpart.

“I should be saying that to you!” Trip fired back playfully.

“Last chance to back out!” The redhead told him with a sly grin.

“Not a chance!” Trip declared. It was too bad though. The ball only made it to the thirty five yard line, causing Trip to owe Natasha a hotdog.

Through out the match, Peggy’s kids explained to her how eggball was played and the rules behind it. Angie came over and greeted the group after the first quarter and then took her place next to Peggy. The two women huddled together while under a blanket that Angie brought and Angie helped explain what was happening in the game.

A few minutes before the Halftime show, the Howling Commandos dragged Peggy and Angie off to a VIP sitting area by the end of the field. It was in a large tent with free food. This was where Howard Stark was sitting and enjoying a rich beer.

“Miss Martinelli, a beautiful rendition of our National Anthem, as always.” A finely dressed man said to her. He had brown hair that was slicked back with a considerable amount of product. He, like Howard, held a beer and had slung his arm over Angie. “And you look absolutely amazing!”

“Well thank you Mr. Garrett,” Angie said with small smile. Angie was wearing a simple black dress and heels with he hair curled nicely. She had one arm through Peggy’s and her grip on the English woman tightened when Garrett had wrapped his arm around her. She managed to shimmy out of his grip and death grip Peggy’s muscular arms.

“Ah Steve! Good to see you again!” Mr. Garrett said, moving over to the Howling Commandos. “How are you liking being back in the States?”

“Well we’ve been home over six months now and I think we’re doing well. “ Steve told him with a smile.

“I hear you didn’t even lose a single man!”

Steve nodded to Garrett. “We didn’t lose any man you’re right. But we added a damn fine woman to our group.” Steve then gestured to Peggy. “This here is Major Carter. She saved our asses more than a few times.”

“More like every time. Even when she was DNIF’ed.” Bucky commented with a laugh. “C’mon Peg. Let’s get you a chair.”

With the help of Steve and Bucky, Peggy walked over to a vacant chair next to Howard. Once she was seated comfortably, Angie took her canes and set them against the chair before standing next to the woman.

“Peggy is our school’s new History Teacher.” Angie explained with a smile. “And she’s right across the hall from me!” She then turned back to Peggy. “This is John Garrett, the superintendent.”

“Ah!” Peggy exclaimed, “Well it is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Garrett. I’d get up to shake your hand but I find standing a little difficult at the present.” She had been standing all day, unassisted, while she coached her kids practice. This practice was a lazy one and only had gone until three that afternoon. Her boys and girls had scrimmaged against each other after warm ups and she pretty much called it a day. After all, tomorrow was the first game of the season and they needed to be rested!

“Wonderful to meet you, Miss Carter. I hear you’re coaching both boys and girls soccer too.”

“Aw yeah!” Angie said excitedly. “Peg’s been runnin’ those kids ragged every day! I feel bad for whoever they take on in tomorrow’s game because those kids are gonna kick some ass!”

Peggy looked up to Angie, “Oh you plan to watch tomorrows match?” She asked her.

“‘Course Peg!” Angie told her, wrapping the woman in an awkward half hug, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Her attention turned to the rest of their group. “You’re all coming, right?”

There was a resounding yes from all the Howling Commandos, who wouldn’t miss a chance to support their favorite English woman. Howard said that he and the Jarvises planned to come out and that he was dragging Tony with him.

“Well if you all are going, I better go too!” The Superintendent said with a charming smile. “I’ll see about putting in an announcement after the halftime show for everyone to attend!”

“Oh you don’t have-” Peggy started off.

“I know, Miss Carter. But I want to.” The man told her. “Now sit back and relax. I believe the Howler Marching Band is about to go on.”

Taking Garrett’s advice, Peggy and the other’s sat back to enjoy the show. The history teacher met a few other important people in town. Most of them were donors to the school like Spider Raymond who owned most of the local businesses. The men she met seemed only interested in two things: Getting into Peggy’s pants or getting into Angie’s. It was exhausting.

Once Halftime was over, John Garrett made good on his promise and announced the Soccer team’s first game the next day. Loud cheers from the soccer players could be heard in the stands. Even Peggy found herself smiling.

“That was nice.” Peggy found herself saying as the group left the tent and headed back for the stands.

“Between you and me, he did it to get into our pants.” Angie told her, now wrapped back up in her blanket.

“Well it was a valiant effort.” Peggy replied with a laugh.

“Too bad it failed.” Angie said with a smile.

* * *

The game on Saturday went off without a hitch. It was an exhausting day for Peggy and she didn’t even play. The English woman had been walking around unassisted as much as possible, but by the time her varsity boys started playing, she was trembling and being half carried by Mack, the boy’s keeper to her wheelchair.

“You relax, Coach.” He told her sweetly before racing out to his goal posts. Try as she might, Peggy was pretty much stuck sitting in her accursed chair.

“The boys shut you down?” Angie asked, bringing the woman a plate of lasagna. Angie had been at the fields since early that morning. She had left halfway through the second game with a few of the guys. They ended up coming back with a  lunch feast for the players and Peggy.

“They’re quite overprotective.” Peggy said before digging into the food. It was dinner time now and Peggy was starving. So far her teams had won every game with great ease. “As are the girls.”

Speaking of her girls, they were crowded around Angie’s food and practically fighting each other for it. The Varsity Girls had played the last game and came out winning three to nil.

“I think we may have to go out for dinner, darling.” Peggy finally said after watching her girls shout expletives at each other. It was a hilarious sight because no one could calm the team. Peggy didn’t bother trying because watching them was hilarious.

“What ever gave you that idea?” Angie replied with a giggle. “They act like you when you’re hungry!”

Eventually the girls all came back over to Peggy and huddled around her, eating. Like Peggy, they kept stuffing food into their mouths until their cheeks were full. Angie found the sight hilarious. So much that she took quite a few pictures of the hungry females with their cheeks all puffed out.

“Well glad to see you haven’t changed, Peg!” A bubbly voice said from behind the group.

Peggy’s eyes instantly widened and she flipped her wheelchair around so fast that Angie swore she almost got whiplash.

“Dot!” Peggy exclaimed happily. Without hesitating, Peggy threw herself out of her chair and into Dot’s arms.

The woman caught Peggy and spun her around happily. “Hiya Peg! It’s so good to see ya!” She said happily. “Though I wish it were on the field!”

“Please, Dottie, do you need another beating?” Peggy asked with a smile. She was practically hanging from the blonde woman's arms, her legs hardly able to support her.

“I doubt you could beat me now in this state, Carter!” Dottie told her, scooping her up with great ease and putting the woman back in her wheelchair. “When the girls said that you left England I was shocked.”

“Well after everything that happened, there was no way I could stay.” Peggy explained while gesturing to her legs. “I’m sure everyone understands.”

“Oh we understand. You were off savin' us civilians and stuff.” Dottie told her, “but who am I supposed to face in the next Olympics?”

Peggy laughed, “I’m sure someone of equal skill to myself.”

Dottie rolled her eyes, “Yes because England can easily replace the number one women’s striker in the world.” Peggy playfully slapped the blonde woman. “Alright, no more sarcasm. But when I heard you settled down out here I had to come see you! After all, this is my turf, Carter.”

“Well It’s lovely to see you again.” Peggy told her honestly, “How are the other ladies?”

“May is as bummed as me that you aren’t gonna be playing.” Dottie told her, taking a seat on the ground next to Peggy. “Once she heard you were over her here, she wanted to scout you for our team.”

“I assume she gave up?”

“As if!” Dottie told he, lightly slapping her arm. “Nah, she’d just waiting for you to be able to walk again. Biding her time. Trying to get you Americanized and then guilt trip you into coming aboard.”

Peggy howled with laughter. “Oh that does sound quite like Melinda!” Dottie also found herself laughing with Peggy. “You tell her that if she can get me to walk by the time she had to decide on players, I will join the US team for the Summer Olympics.”

Dottie’s face seemed to light up. “Oh golly! Give me one sec!” The woman pulled out her phone and then pointed the camera at Peggy. Her thumb hit the record button and she spoke again. “Say that again my little Peg-let!”

Peggy’s eyes narrowed. “You know I hate that name!” She complained. "It's the worst thing I've ever heard!"

“If you're gonna eat like a pig, I'm gonna keep callin' you Peg-let!" Dottie told her. The brunette pouted and crossed her arms to her chest. "Oh humor me this once! I’m sending this to May! She'll be thrilled.”

“Ugh!” Peggy groaned, “Fine! May, Dottie is making me tell you that if you can find a way to make me walk by the time you have to choose players for the US National team, I’ll tryout.”

“You said join!” Dottie said quickly.

“Fine, join!” Peggy said very irritated. “Are you happy you blonde beast.”

Dottie hit the button to stop the recording and she then sent it off to Melinda May. “Much better! Now are you gonna introduce me to these people or not?”

“No. Do it yourself.” Peggy grumbled, now displeased that Dottie had called her Peg-let.

“Gosh, rude.” Dottie said, turning her attention now to Peggy’s varsity girls. “Hi I’m Dottie Underwood! I play for the US national team as a forward like Peggy!”

“Dottie, I’m sure they know who you are. They do play football.” Peggy told her, now eating her lasagna. “Tell them something they don’t know.”

Dottie sat back for a moment to think of something that she never told in any of her interviews. “Well alright!” She finally exclaimed. “During the last Olympics, Peggy and I made out with each other at least once a night!”

“What!?” Her girls shouted. Even Angie looked over, completely shocked. Peggy and this blonde woman had history!?

“You can’t just tell them that!” Peggy complained loudly, now glaring at the blonde.

“You said something they don’t know!” Dottie argued with a sly grin on her face.

“You are so bloody irritating.” Peggy groaned. “The only reason we did that is because everyone insisted on hitting on the two of us. So we pretended to be dating.”

Dottie giggled at everyone’s shocked faces. “I’m surprised that didn’t hit the news honestly.”

Peggy shrugged and finished her food. “No one cared. And you're straight so what did it matter?” She replied, focusing on the field now. “Now keep it down the game is about to start.”

That didn’t stop Dottie from talking and gossiping with Peggy’s team. Her entire team was asking about stupid stories involving Peggy and Dottie was eager to tell everything. The blonde woman was happily revealing all of Peggy’s embarrassing stories and even signing autographs and taking selfies with the girls. So many selfies were taken that night.

While Dottie was happily chatting with the varsity girls, Peggy was doing her coaching thing and occasionally resting her head on Angie’s shoulder. Angie didn't mind the contact. She even managed to hold the coach's hand. Though most of the time Peggy was rolling up and down the side of the field shouting at her boys.

The boys easily won their game (two to nil) and all the soccer kids went out for dinner. Dottie ended up following them and having dinner with the group. By the end of the night, Dottie had so many pictures instagramed and quite a few of them involving Peggy eating with her puffy cheeks (all of them were liked by the kids). But at the end of the night everyone parted. 

Peggy and Angie piled into Angie’s car and they went back to Steve and Bucky’s house. Angie helped Peggy out of the car and into her wheelchair, much to Peggy’s annoyance.

“It’s not bad to ask for help, English.” Angie told her once Peggy was seated comfortably.

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Peggy mumbled out. “See you on Monday?”

Angie smiled, “of course, Peg.” The actress placed a kiss on Peggy’s lips and watched the woman wheel up to her home. She couldn’t help but smile when Peggy blew her a kiss.

Angie drove home with that smile and she still had it when she fell asleep.

* * *

The first week of classes went by rather quickly for Peggy. It was difficult for her to maneuver about her class in a wheelchair so she often resorted to her canes. Angie would teach across the hall from her and the two would often catch each other’s eyes while talking. More often than not, Peggy was saying and she would just watch the actress go on animatedly about something or another. 

Peggy had never taught a class before. That was apparent to all her students when they first met her. Her seniors in the European History course rather liked the relaxed teacher. She still made sure that the kids knew their information, but she also made it silly with some very impromptu skits that she narrated.

There was a bout of laughter after Peggy finished narrating her latest skit involving the Black Plague and Maria being the rat that started the entire thing. She stood dramatically on her desk with her hands over her head like she was supposed to be menacing.

“Alright thank you Maria for your dramatic portrayal of a rat.” Peggy said laughing. She then pointed up to her slides. “Now we saw the course that the plague took thanks to Maria’s wonderful acting skills.”

“Thank you Miss Martinelli!” Maria joked out, now taking a seat in her chair.

Peggy rolled her eyes at the joke but she couldn’t help looking over to Angie’s classroom. The actress was sitting up on her desk reading something and looking dramatic. “What is she even doing?” Peggy mumbled, confused. Though she enjoyed the miniature show.

“Her job most likely.” Natasha piped up with a smirk.

Peggy’s eyes snapped back to her student and smiled sheepishly. “My apologies. Back to Maria’s killing spree. Why do you think it hit Russia last?”

“Because even in rat form, Maria is too scared to make a move on Natasha.” Clint piped up, looking quite proud of his joke. He was smacked with a book courtesy of Maria.

“Probably because no one like Russia.” Natasha replied with a small laugh.

“I like Russia.” Maria said with a joking smile. The two soccer captains high fived each other and then looked back up to Peggy, who was rolling her eyes. “But probably because after Poland closed its borders, it made the plague harder to spread. It acted as a buffer between the plague and Russia. Protecting the people for a few more years.”

“Excellent point. Spot on, little Rat.” The whole class erupted in a fit of giggles at Peggy’s new nickname for Maria. Just then the bell rang and everyone started packing up their things. “Don’t forget to do tonight’s reading!” She called to them while stumbling over to her desk chair. Her legs were pretty weak after standing for the entire morning of classes. But it was a dramatic improvement.

The students waved goodbye to their teacher before racing off to their next class.

“Hey Coach! What are we doing for practice today?” Maria asked while standing at the door.

“I managed to procure the weight room for us. So we’ll be in there for part of practice and then running drills for the rest of it.” Adding the weight room to part of their practice made for a dramatic improvement in everyone’s stamina. Even Peggy was finding it helpful for her legs.

The captain nodded and headed off to her next class, leaving Peggy alone in her classroom. She wasn’t alone for long though. This period was her planning period and the next one was her lunch period.

“Hey English!” Angie called out, waltzing into Peggy’s classroom. “What was Maria doing earlier with her hands above her head and stuff?”

Peggy giggled. She didn’t realize that Angie had spotted her mini skit that she had pulled out of her ass. “I didn’t realize you saw that.”

“Me and half my class.” Angie said, sitting on top of Peggy’s desk. “We all were peering through the window tryin’ to figure out what the devil was going on!”

"Well I was trying to find a way to make the spread of the plague stick with the class… So I made them all countries and Maria was the rat who started the whole thing. So she went around terrorizing all the countries.” Peggy explained, pulling an apple out of her bag. “I have a feeling everyone is going to call Maria a rat now.”

Angie started howling with laughter at that. “Maria the Rat! That’s a good one!”

“Natasha demanded that she play Russia.”

“I’m not surprised.” Angie said with a smile. “Do you have a nickname for Natasha yet?”

“A nickname for Tsarina Natasha of Russia?” Peggy asked with a laugh, “I doubt she would let me nickname her.”

“Did she literally call herself Tsarina Natasha of Russia?” Angie asked, trying to stifle her laughter.

“Declared it in the middle of class.” Peggy told her with a smile. “I may start calling her Tsarina.”

“Well if Natasha is Tsarina, then what are you?”

"The Empress.”

Angie snorted. “Alright, Empress, lets get our lunch. I hear it’s Chicken Nugget Day.”

Peggy rose to her feet and grabbed her canes. “You’ll have to carry my lunch.” The woman told her while trying to get balanced. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have worn heels.”

“Need some flats?” Angie asked, holding the door open for Peggy. “I got some in my room.”

“No I’m fine.” Peggy assured her with a smile. “So have any producers been calling up the famous Angela Martinelli?”

“Ugh yes!” Angie groaned out. “Too many! How do people expect me to get anything graded when everyone is begging me to be in their production?”

Peggy laughed at her, but she knew how the actress felt. Ever since Dottie sent that video to Melinda May, the entire Women's Soccer Team has been pestering her. Dottie even showed up at one of her practices and helped her out. In return the woman spilled even more secrets about Peggy and took various stupid pictures of her and then tagged her in them on Instagram. At this point all of Peggy's kids were following her on Instagram and even Twitter. Needless to say Peggy had to be careful what she put up now.

"How come it’s taking you longer to walk than it does with other people?” Angie asked her once they made it to the cafeteria. “My gramma had a knee replacement and she was up and walking in a few weeks. Why not you?”

“Nerve damage.” Peggy answered truthfully. “They didn’t think I’d be able to walk again. Six months later and here I am. Walking on my own two feet most of the time and I can even run two miles every morning before work.”

Angie smiled, “damn English. You’re a beast.”

“Thank you darling.” The two made their way to the front of the lunch line, perks of being a teacher. “Now I believe you have show me why Chicken Nugget Day is so good.”

Laughing, Angie got their lunches. It was nothing special. Just chicken nuggets and an apple with a carton of milk. With Angie’s help, they made it back to Peggy’s classroom and the athlete plopped herself in her desk chair. Angie pulled up a chair and joined Peggy. They both put their feet up on the desk and happily ate their chicken nuggets.

“Mmm! These are good!” Peggy exclaimed happily  after eating he first nugget. “They’re better than the fast food nuggets!”

“Chicken Nugget Day is the best day.” Angie declared before eating a nugget. “I love chicken nuggets.”

“Me too.”

They ate in silence for a moment, but Angie broke the silence. “So I’ve been asked to be in a new movie.”

“I thought you didn’t have time?” Peggy joked out.

Angie slapped her playfully. “I don’t, but they really want me because I could add a lot of 'valuable insight.' whatever that means.”

“What’s the movie?” Peggy asked curiously. "I mean, if they're begging you then I guess they know you know something about the whole thing."

Angie laughed. “It’s about the Howling Commandos.” She answered with a sheepish grin. “And they want me to play the part of a triage nurse who fell for the commander of the group after they saved her.”

Peggy looked at her, confused. “I didn’t realize the Howlers were so popular…” The woman said. Though being a hermit ever since she had come to America probably didn't help with that. 

“How could you now?” Angie asked her. After all, she lived with Steve and Bucky, two of the legends. “They’re America’s biggest heroes behind SEAL team Six! After saving all those MIA soldiers and other hostages, they became heroes. You ran with them, how did you not know?”

Peggy just shrugged. Sure she had been apart of the team who saved those soldiers, but she also wasn’t supposed to be. In all reality, half of the things Peggy did while deployed, she wasn’t supposed to do. Peggy was never very good at following directions. It's probably why she didn't get the recognition. Besides, she was a professional soccer player, she didn't need to be labeled at a war hero. She was a woman doing her job.. And a damn fine job at that. 

"Well the point is, I’ve been asked to play a nurse. Elizabeth "Betty" Carver. She was captured by the other guys and then the Howlers saved her with everyone else.” Angie told her. “But I wanted to know what you thought about it.”

“Why?”

“Uh, probably because I’ll be playing your cinematic counterpart.” Angie replied with a small laugh. “Duh English.”

Peggy’s brows furrowed. That didn’t make sense to her. “But I was a pilot. Not a nurse.” Thank you Captain Obvious. Or Major Obvious in this case.

“Tell them that, not me. I know your story.”

“Do you?” Peggy asked with a small grin. She hadn’t been very forthcoming about her time in the war. Peggy hadn’t been very forthcoming about anything in all reality. Anything Angie knew, the world also knew. Interviews and what not made that happen.

“Well yeah…” Angie replied. “You got shot out of a plane and the Howlers rescued you and you worked along side them acting as their eyes and stuff.”

“Very descriptive.” Peggy said with a slight smile. “Though not very thrilling for a movie.”

“Then why don’t you tell me what happened and we make that the movie?” Angie asked her with a small grin. "We can call it Striker. Make it a play on words or something about you being a soccer player but also a fighter pilot."

Peggy shook her head and then looked away. “Perhaps another time.” Peggy finally said. Her voice cracked slightly as she spoke. She still struggled with the nightmares and memories. There was no way she would willingly bringing them up. And there was absolutely no chance that she wanted her memories to be a movie.

The two sat in comfortable silence for a little longer. Angie left Peggy to her silent thoughts and continued to finish her meal. Peggy, like usual, finished her food within seconds. Making sure that no one was around, Angie slipped her fingers between Peggy's and gently squeezed her hand. Peggy gave her a reassuring squeeze but said nothing. Their silence remained, but they at least had each other. But all good things must come to an end and eventually the bell rang and Angie was forced to head back to her classroom while Peggy had her extra free period.

“See you after class, Peg.” Angie told her while taking their now empty trays.

“See you.” Peggy told her quietly, looking out her window. She still was gone in her own little world, though Angie didn't mind. It was rare that Peggy would have time to herself. She tended to keep herself busy like that. Angie placed a soft kiss to Peggy’s cheek, causing the athlete to smile and then left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DNIF'ed means Duty Not Including Flying. For pilots it forces them to be grounded and no pilot likes that. It's the worst thing ever.


	3. we leave each other notes on the blackboards

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah I finally updated this. Yay! This is the "we leave each other notes on the blackboards" chapter. This has a lot more... heavy things in store. Sorry for not updating much all, I've been dealing with so many stories and work and life. Anyway, hope you like it! I wrote half of this from like 6-11 last night and I started editing at like 9PM today. So there are probably a bunch of errors. Er... Enjoy!

Angie did end up taking the role of the Triage Nurse after Peggy, Steve and Bucky insisted upon it. Steve and Bucky even agreed to explain what really happened, without giving away any confidential information, obviously. While the producers of the movie were excited to have input from the great Howling Commandos, they weren’t pleased when they had to change Angie’s role.

“She wasn’t a nurse. She was a pilot.” Bucky said in a heated tone over the Skype call. “A pilot who saved our asses more time than we could count.”

The two men and Angie were sitting in Casa de Rogers y Barnes and arguing with the movie producers.

“And she’s English.” Angie pointed out. “That’s pretty important.”

“And an international women’s soccer star.” Steve added, pointing out the obvious. “If you want a damn good movie, you should make it about Peggy. The International Soccer star, Olympic gold medalist and fighter pilot who had to cut herself out of her plane before it crashed.”

“That’s not going to win over the hearts of Americans as much as the Howling Commandos coming up on the scene to save a downed pilot and fighting for her life. Women in action movies do not sell,” Peggy called from the kitchen. “Also I’m home. Thank you for the ride, Steven!” She threw her bag on the floor and let her canes clatter to the ground without a care in the world. The boys could pick them up; especially since they forgot about her.

Steve jumped up and looked over to Peggy sheepishly. “Sorry Peg…” He said with a guilty smile. “We got you your favorite Pizza though! Hawaiian!”

“That’s Bucky’s favorite.” Peggy deadpanned, walking into the living room. “Oh, hello Angie.”

“Hawaiian pizza is everyone’s favorite.” Bucky declared quietly before eating another slice.

Peggy collapsed on the couch next to Angie and playfully threw her legs across everyone’s laps. “Give me the pizza.” She demanded with outstretched hands.

The group tossed her the entire box of pizza and let Peggy happily munch on it. The woman could eat a lot of food, and they all knew it. That’s why they bought an entire pizza just for Peggy.

“So like I was saying. It would be better if you were the focus and you come upon me and save my life like you actually did.” Peggy explained though her bites.

“Then what about the POW camp?” The voice from the computer asked.

That caused Peggy to jump in her seat and almost throw her pizza box. “Bloody Nora! Why did no one tell me you were on a Skype call? I thought we were just writing down what happened!”

Roars of laughter from both ends filled the room. Peggy was not amused but eventually she did crack a smile. It was a little funny.

“Well to answer your question,” Peggy started off before taking a bite of pizza. “I had already spotted the camp and I had their coordinates. So when the Howlers came to extract me, we just went into the camp.”

“And technically they weren’t even POWs. They were hostages.” Bucky added quickly. “So what happened was is that we found Peggy hiding under her plane which was busted up. She was on her way back from a mission and she had been gunned down. But on her way back she spotted something suspicious and circled around to see what it was, right Peg?”

Peggy made an affirmative sound, since her face was stuffed full of pizza. She conveniently didn’t mention that she had left her wingman after being explicitly told not to do so. 

“So we come on the scene and she tells us about what she saw and she and Steve made the executive decision to go and save them.” Bucky finished with a smile.

“Ever since then, Peg became an unofficial member of our team.” Steve said with a smile. He squeezed Peggy’s leg affectionately and smiled. “That girl can fly anything or at least fake it until she makes it.” The boys shared a knowing grin while Peggy purposely looked away.

“We lived.” She replied before reaching for more food. “And we didn’t crash. It could have been worse.”

Steve and Bucky didn’t say anything, they just laughed. Angie gave the boys a confused look, but they waved her off. That story could wait.

“Well we should change the script up.” The men on the other line said. “If you all write up what you can, we’ll make it as accurate as we can.”

“Cut out the romance between Cap and Peg too.” Angie said quickly.

“Yes!” The other three exclaimed. It was funny because they all agreed on it for different reasons. Peggy didn’t want it because she didn’t want to have Angie kissing someone else. Steve didn’t think it was very relevant since it lasted for only a few months. Bucky just didn’t want to relive the ‘dark days’ as he called them.

“Well alright. No romance.” The producers decided rather unhappily. “I guess it would take away from all the action.”

“And the whole thing was pretty short lived.” Peggy added, now on to her third slice of pizza. “Focus more on the camaraderie between the group.”

“Well thanks so much for agreeing to this skype call.” The producers said with a smile. “We learned a lot about what happened and we’re excited to show the world what really happened.”

“Within reason.” Steve said quickly.

“Within reason. Can’t tell everything can you?” The groups laughed. “Well we’ll let you go. Have a good night folks.”

“Night!” They all said and then the call disconnected.

The all then looked at each other, trying to figure out what to do next.

“Want to write what happened?” Steve asked them. Both Peggy and Bucky groaned, not feeling like actually being productive.

"What if you wrote it drunk?” Angie asked, knowing that anything done drunk is automatically better.

“I’ll get the beer.” Bucky said quickly before running into the kitchen.

* * *

The next morning Steve dropped Peggy off at the school with a raging headache. The woman was walking on her own two feet for the most part, but today she was using her crutches. As she walked through the halls, students greeted her cheerfully and she gave them a smile and wave.

Eventually she made it to her classroom and collapsed into her desk chair. No one had arrived to class yet, which was fine by her. It gave her time to quell her raging headache. Well she would have, but her bottle of painkillers was missing from her desk.

It wasn’t until she looked up to her board when she realized why.

_I snagged your ibuprofen. It’s on my desk._

Angie’s handwriting. Groaning to herself, Peggy slowly lifted herself out of her chair and headed across the hall.

True to her note, Angie had left the bottle sitting on her desk. Next to it was a small cup of water with two small pills sitting next to it. _Just in case your headache is as bad as mine._ A note said off to the side.

Peggy smiled and swallowed the pills. Thankfully they still had half an hour until classes so it would give the medication some time to kick in. Peggy pocketed the bottle and then turned to Angie’s whiteboard. She picked up a red marker and then started writing.

_Thank you darling, I owe you one. Are we on for lunch today?_

The athlete capped the marker and then headed back to her room. She still had time to prepare for today’s lesson. With any luck she could convince all her classes to shut up and watch a movie. She was sure she could appease them with Henry V. After all, they were talking about the 100 Years War.

“Party too hard last night, Coach?” Maria asked as the girls all boarded a bus.

Peggy was sitting in the front seat next to Angie. The little actress had found herself becoming an honorary soccer mom. She made them all healthy snacks for their games and made sure that the parent volunteers had everything all set up for games so that Peggy could focus on coaching. The kids saw her as a sort of assistant coach now, and they often took to calling her coach too.

“Ugh,” Peggy and Angie both groaned. They were wearing sunglasses and leaning on each other.

“Never again.” Peggy declared, pulling a baseball cap over her eyes.

“Agreed.” Angie replied. “I can’t believe I forgot we had a game today.”

“I can’t believe you suggested we get drunk on a Wednesday.” Peggy grumbled. “I feel like I’m back in university the day after St. Patrick’s Day.”

“You got drunk on St. Patrick’s Day, Coach?” Natasha asked, now interested.

“Of course I did. I still do.” Peggy replied. “Every damn year.”

Howls of laughter and cheering could be heard from the entire team of girls. This resulted in the two adults cringing and groaning.

“Alright keep it down!” Angie called out, cringing as she did so. She stood up and faced all the girls. “Your coach and I are terribly hungover from the unholy amounts of alcohol we drank last night. So if you could keep it down today, that would be lovely.”

Thankfully, their girls were angels, and found a way to occupy themselves while their coaches got a little bit of shut eye. That also meant that they took pictures of the sleeping women as blackmail.

By the time they arrived, Peggy and Angie had slept off most of their hangover, thankfully. The two got their girls off the bus and made them book it to the field to start practice. Angie split off from Peggy and went to go tell the parents what they needed.

Peggy warmed up with the rest of her girls. After a few weeks of working herself harder than ever, Peggy found the strength to work out with her team now. Even after a day of standing and teaching. Now she rarely used her wheelchair, and that was a major victory in her book.

After practicing with the girls, Peggy retired to the side of the field to work out strategies. She had plopped down in the lawn chair that she always brought.

“Alright ladies, We’ve been pushing ourselves harder than ever, but we can’t stop now.” Peggy told them. As of now, all four of her teams had been undefeated. “The Generals are celebrating their Homecoming this week. I don’t know why that’s so important, but Angie said that we should be offended by this.”

“Its because they always make the homecoming games against teams that the home school can beat.” Maria chimed in.

“Oh. Well thank you, Rat. Now I understand why we should be offended.” Peggy said, now a little offended. “If those Generals think they can beat us then they have another thing coming!”

“Yeah!” The girls shouted.

Peggy cringed slightly but said nothing. She was now eternally thankful  that Angie had told her to take something before they boarded the bus. The advil was definitely kicking in.

“The stands are quite full for a football game…” Peggy commented as her eyes looked over the crowd. “I thought eggball was more popular.”

“More people to watch us kick their ass.” Natasha mumbled.

“Or because I said I was coming to watch you!” Said an oh so familiar voice of one Dottie Underwood. The whole team jumped when the star soccer player had snuck up on them.

_“Fucking hell!”_ Natasha exclaimed in Russian.

“Language.” Dottie and Peggy said at the same time. They then high fived each other and smirked like it was something they used to often do.

“You both know Russian?” Maria asked curiously.

“Psh, I’m the reason little Peg-let passed her Russian classes!” Dottie said with a smile.

“Stop calling me that.” Peggy mumbled.

“Never.” Dottie replied before turning back to the team. “My Mom is Ukrainian and my dad is American. Grew up speaking Ukrainian. Russian is pretty much the same language, but don’t let any Ukrainian hear you say that!” From beside her, Natasha snickered. She knew all too well how much the Ukranians hated the Russian people. “But I came to stop by and say hello. Technically I’m supporting the Generals today, but I think we all know you all will win. After all, you’ve dominated all the teams you’ve faced lately… Yes I’ve been keeping track.”

The team smirked at the blonde woman. She was stroking their egos and Peggy knew it. But her time with them was short and soon she left to join the General’s team and get them pumped up.

“Just because we’ve played well does not mean that we will let our guard down.” Peggy told the girls quickly. “Right?”

“Yes ma’am!”

Peggy smirked. “Now I know that this Homecoming is a big thing for you Americans so those girls are probably going to play better than they usually do just because their spirits are high.”

“Who cares? We’re still probably better.” Gamora asked with her arms crossed.

“A difference in morale can be a huge game changer.” Peggy said to them. “Now is not the time to underestimate anyone. Now we need to stick to what we do best. Playing as a team.”

“So what’s the plan?” Maria asked.

“Play it safe this time.” Peggy replied. “Their morale is going to be the wild card in this match. I want us to spend the first half just assessing their moves. The second half is when we will be aggressive and hit them hard. Don’t let them get near Peru though.”

“Yes ma’am!” The girls replied at once.

“Good, now go get stretched out before the National Anthem.” As they turned to leave, Peggy called out again. Natasha, Maria and Sif, stay back.” The three seniors looked at each other, but stayed back like asked. “You three need to go hard all game.” Peggy told them seriously. “Supposedly there are college scouts here looking at the Generals. Specifically their seniors, numbers sixteen, four, five and nine.”

“Why tell us now?” Sif asked curiously.

Peggy help up her phone. “Dottie told me in a text. She wanted you three to have a heads up as well.”

“Have their been scouts at our other games?” Maria asked her.

Peggy just shrugged. “No clue. No one tells me. But you can worry about that later. Now is time to impress these Scouts. Apparently it’s NYU.”

“Isn’t it rude to steal the spotlight?” Maria asked her.

Peggy shrugged once more. “Not my problem. If they don’t want you stealing the spotlight then they shouldn’t have told Dottie that there was a scout here.” Seriously, everyone should know by now that she and Dottie were as thick as thieves back in Peggy’s ‘glory days’. So, naturally, they would talk about everything now that they were so close to each other once again.

The girls all nodded. After all, Dottie had become a frequent visitor to their school and their games. She at least popped by once a week just to say hello. While many thought that Dottie was helping Peggy train the team, truth was that Dottie was typically around to poke fun at Peggy and tell the team embarrassing stories. The only time Dottie actually helped was when Peggy was too hurt to do anything.

“Makes sense I guess…” Maria finally said.

“That’s what I’m saying.” Peggy replied. “Anyway, go finish stretching out and getting ready.”

They girls all nodded and ran off to join the rest of their teammates. At that point, Angie had returned to Peggy’s side carrying two bleacher pads and a cup of coffee.

“Thought you might like this.” Angie told her, handing off the coffee.

Peggy accepted the cup happily. “Yes, thank you darling.”

“Everyone ready for the game?” Angie asked,settling down on the bleachers.

Peggy nodded and took another sip of coffee.

“Steve and Bucky are here too. They wanted to see if we wanted to get dinner after this. We were thinking of Italian.” Angie told her with a sly grin. “Great food, the owners are pretty friendly but I’m not so sure about the rest of the staff.”

“I’m sure it will be lovely.”

The first half was good, as always. The score was two to zero when the half came. Angie had provided the girls with orange slices and gatorade before sending them back out to play. Everything was going well until twenty minutes into the second half. The Generals had scored on Camilla, their little Peruvian. That wasn’t the bad part. No, the bad part was the cannon blast that followed the goal.

Suddenly Peggy was not at the game anymore. She was back in Afghanistan in her flight suit and ducking under her plane. She was powerless. No radio, no weapon, just hiding. She heard the sounds of fighting not too far from her location, but she couldn’t be sure if it was friendly or not. All she could do was wait.

In the distance she could hear it. Screaming. Shouting over the heavy firing of weapons. The smoke was the worst part. She could smell it. The scent was practically suffocating her.

_"Peggy!_ ” A cry rang out. It sounded so close, but also so far. Like an echo over the battlefield. A moment later the cry rang out again. And then again. Then suddenly she had been found! Someone, or something, was pulling her out from the wreckage. The voices were muffled. She couldn’t understand what they were saying.

_“Hold her down!”_ A voice shouted.

Once Peggy heard that, she fought. She lashed out like a wounded animal, using the last of it’s strength to get away from its captor. Peggy let out a primal scream and launched herself at the nearest figure. She had to escape. She needed to live and no one was going to take her and put her in a cage like some animal. No, Peggy Carter was going to get the hell out of here.

As she flew toward her first attacker, a pair of strong arms caught her from behind.

“PEGGY!” A voice screamed.

Then, as quickly as the scene came, it was gone. She was back in New York. At a match for her girls. The whole stadium was dead silent and staring right at her.

Peggy could feel herself shivering and gasping for breath. The smoke was gone now and wasn’t trying to kill her. The arms that held her pulled her into a strong body. Male, she had figured out while she was coming to her senses.

The athlete buried her face into the fabric on the figure and gripped it in her hands like it was a safety net. Large hands rubbed her back as gently as the could. “Its alright, Peg. You’re safe. You’re home, not there anymore.” _Steve._

“It felt so real.” Peggy choked out, unsure of what to make of the entire situation. “I was there. I crashed. They were coming for me! They were going to kill me!”

“I know they were, Peg.” Steve knew that all too well. He had fought them off so they could rescue the downed pilot. But had he not been there, Peggy would have been killed, or worse.

“What’s wrong with me?” Peggy whispered out.

“Nothing. You’re just scared. We’ll figure it out.” Steve promised her. With that, Peggy broke down completely and sobbed.

* * *

 After what had happened at the game, Peggy had been taken home while Angie ‘coached’ the girls through the rest of it. It resulted with the actress having to pull out Sharon, who was far too hysterical to continue. The poor girl tried to go to her aunt before she left, but she had been pulled away kicking and screaming by Bucky. It was a heart wrenching scene that, sadly, was being recorded but all the local new's stations. At some point, Dottie had raced over to help Angie keep hold of a hysterical Sharon while the men escorted an equally hysterical Peggy from the stadium.

Through some miracle and perhaps skill, the girls managed to pull through with a victory. The score ended three to two. In the second half, Camilla was completely unfocused and let a goal slip through her grasp (making them all cringe when the cannon fired once more). They only won when Angie talked Sharon down enough so that she could be put in for over time. With some serious team playing and a whole lot of determination, Sharon scored the last goal, with a great assist from Natasha, that lead the whole team to victory.

The bus ride home was awkward for everyone. Once on the bus, Sharon broke down again and the whole team seemed lost as to what they should do. Eventually Rebecca Barnes, Bucky's sister, moved to sit with her and let the girl cry into her. Natasha was screaming angrily in Russian. Maria was trying to calm down their resident Tsarina but failed spectacularly. 

"Who the fuck even has a cannon at a high school game!" Natasha finally shrieked in English. "What the fuck is wrong with those fuckers!?" Normally Angie would have chastised her for language, but she couldn't even begin to care.

"Alright everyone, try to calm down." Angie said in her best 'everything will be fine' voice. "Peggy will be fine."

"She never acted like that before! And we had her around fireworks!" Sharon shouted, still in tears. "The big ones in the park when she got discharged!"

"Sharon, people react differently to different things." Angie started off carefully. "I mean, fireworks are one thing but that was an actual cannon."

"Which brings me back to what I was saying! Who the fuck has a cannon?" Natasha yelled out with her arms crossed.

"I'm not getting into that with you, Natasha." Angie responded evenly. "That's not even the point."

"Yes it is!" Sharon hollered. "It's all because of that fucking cannon! She was fine before!" The other girls mumbled in agreement. Peggy had been perfectly fine before the cannon. Or so it seemed.

"How do you know that she hasn't been fighting this since she came home?" Angie asked in a calm voice. "How do we know that she hasn't been reliving everything she went through all by herself? For all we know, she could be suffering everyday but she keeps it quiet because that's the person Peggy is."

That got everyone thinking and for the first time since they stepped foot on the bus, they were silent.

"Will she be okay?" Sharon asked in a broken voice.

"I'll stop over there tonight." Angie promised them. "But she'll make it through this. After all, she survived being shot down twice. I'm convinced that she's unkillable." That made the girls all crack a grin. Even Sharon smiled a little bit. 

Like she promised, Angie stopped over after the match to check on Peggy. Sadly, Bucky turned her away at the door. Angie sent texts and called her every few hours, trying to see how she was doing. She sent messages between the class periods, but received nothing. Apparently Sharon was equally in the dark as Angie. They knew she was alive and she would be back when she was back.

Finally on Sunday Peggy sent Angie a text.

_Can you come over?_

A few minutes later, Angie was standing outside the house with a bottle of schnapps and a tupperware of lasagna. She knocked like any respectable person would do, but the pushed right on into the house. The actress almost called out for Peggy but she soon saw Steve and Bucky sitting on the couch.

“How’s she doin’ fellas?” Angie asked quietly.

“As good as she can be.” Bucky mumbled out, working out his bad arm.

Steve nodded. “She’s never reacted that…” Steve paused to try and think of a word to best describe what he had seen.

“Violently.” Bucky muttered out.

Steve shrugged. “Usually she just has the nightmares.”

“I’ll go check on her then. “ Angie said quietly. “Has she had anything to eat?”

They both shook their heads. “She's just been in bed. If you can get her to eat anything, that will be impressive.” Bucky mumbled. “I know when I get those episodes, I sure as hell don’t want to eat.”

Steve nodded in agreement. "We all react differently." The captain said softly. "I hate saying it, but I've been expecting this to come up sooner or later. She's been holding it in for months."

"It was only a matter of time." Bucky added sadly. "At least now we have leverage to make her get help this time."

That was a bit of news to Angie. She didn’t realize that all three people in the house had PTSD, or saw flashbacks or something. She didn't even realize that people had tried to get her therapy before this. Clearly this had been going on far longer than it should have.

“I’ll go check on her.” Angie told them quietly.

Steve stood up and wordlessly showed Angie to Peggy’s room. Once she was there, he left and headed back to the living room, presumably to curl up with Bucky on the couch. Clearly the whole house was mentally back in the war. 

Angie gently knocked on the door before pushing it open. “Hey English…” Angie said as softly as she could. “I brought some food. The guys said you haven’t eaten much.” She told the woman. “I even brought schnapps.”

Nothing Angie said seemed to have an effect on Peggy. She just seemed gone. Her back was facing the door and the blankets were pulled up around her. The Actress placed the tupperware and the bottle of schnapps on an end table and then sat at the edge of the bed. When she sat down, part of the sheets slipped down Peggy’s frame showing off horrible scars all over her back. It was Angie’s gasp that made Peggy shift in the bed, but only to cover herself up.

“Peggy…” She whispered. “Hey Peg come on. We’re all worried about you. Is there anything I can do?”

“Just be here…” Peggy finally croaked out. "I can't... I can't be alone."

“Well that’s easy.” Angie replied with a smile. “Now scoot over, I’m getting in here.”

Peggy reluctantly shifted in her bed, leaving Angie enough room to slip under the covers. Once she was under, Angie pulled Peggy into her arms. The pilot froze slightly when she had been flipped and now her front was facing Angie. All of a sudden she was incredibly self conscious. But Angie didn’t say anything, she just held Peggy.

They two didn’t know exactly how long they were in bed, but it was long enough for Peggy to fall asleep. When she woke, it was to Bucky knocking on the door and asking them to eat.

“Peggy, you need to eat.” Bucky called through the door.

“Not hungry,” Peggy mumbled, but Bucky couldn’t hear.

“We’ll be out in a bit.” Angie answered. Peggy shot her a glare, but it was clear that the woman was not budging on that. I’m gonna make Peg shower first.”

Bucky laughed, “Good luck with that. See you in half an hour.” He finally said before he left for the kitchen.

“I am not moving,” Peggy mumbled out.

“Yes you are,” Angie told her. “You stink and a nice hot shower will make you feel better and so will some food. You’re either eating chicken or lasagna. So c’mon, get up Carter.”

With some convincing, Angie managed to pull Peggy out of her bed and get her to the bathroom. “Get in.” Angie demanded.

“Can I have some privacy?” Peggy asked her.

“Nope. Strip Carter or I’ll do it for you. And lemme tell you this is not how I imagined stripping you for the first time.” Angie told her, keeping an impressively straight face. She did her best not to look down at the scars that seeming covered Peggy’s torso but she slipped a few times. Eventually she closed her eyes and jerked her head to the side.

Sighing, Peggy took a step forward and placed her hands on Angie’s hips. The actress looked at her curiously but that moment didn’t last long. Peggy gave her a smirk before ripping Angie’s shirt up and over her head.

“Peggy!” Angie hollered trying to get her shirt back down her body.

In her shouting she heard the most refreshing thing. Peggy laughing. Like actually laughing. Once Angie got her shirt back down on her body, she also started laughing.

“Aw Peg, want me to join you?” She asked playfully. “You should have given me a heads up, I would have shaved.”

“I’m sure you look lovely, but I think I would like to shower on my own.” She pulled Angie into a long kiss and then let go.

“As long as you brush your teeth after.” Angie agreed. “I’ll wait outside.”

Ten minutes later, Peggy stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped in a plain brown towel issued to her by the military and headed back to her room. Angie had already been in there because a pair of sweats were sitting out with a plain black tshirt. Even her undergarments had been picked out, and it was obvious that Angie had far too much fun picking out her underwear. She had left Peggy with a pair of lollipop printed boyshorts.

Once dressed, Peggy joined the others at the dinner table. “So, Chicken?”

“Yup.” Steve told her. “This is your plate, Peg.” Peggy was given almost twice as much food compared to everyone else. “And you can’t leave until you eat it all.”

“Or what?” Peggy joked, already biting into the food.

“Or else you’re grounded.” Bucky joked out, digging into his meal. “Also you’re doing dishes tonight!”

“Damn.”

And just like that, the three left the war and returned back to the safety of their own home.

* * *

 

When Peggy returned to work, no one made any comments about her sickness. Even Thompson and Dooley kept remarkably quiet. It was nice that no one commented, but she was often getting sympathetic looks from her fellow staff members. Mr. Jarvis had left her a small breakfast on her desk he morning that she came back, saying that it was from Anna. It was a damn nice breakfast, but Peggy insisted that she did not need the sympathy. She still ate the food and slyly returned the tupperware to Mr. Jarvis’ before first period.

Now it was the middle of the day and her students were busy copying notes of the powerpoint she made weeks ago. “So this lovely picture pretty much explains how the most prominent Gods and Goddesses came about.” It was a lovely flow chart complete with illustrations. When Peggy saw it, she immediately contacted the artist and asked if she could use the picture in class. “I thought it was pretty amusing.”

“Does that say impregnated via tainted lettuce?” Sharon asked, very confused. “How does that even happen? What kind of salad are you eating Egypt and how do I avoid it?”

“I’ve honestly learned not to question what was going through the minds of the Egyptians.” Peggy answered simply. “Greece is equally as interesting… though no impregnation via vegetables. So any questions before we move on to the stories of how they came to be?”

There seemed to be some mumbling in the class but no one asked anything. Their eyes were all focused on something on the board and then to Sharon, who they believed could get away with murder in that class.

“What is it?” Peggy asked them in a very demanding voice. No one said anything though. “Sharon?”

The blonde sighed, hating to be put on the spot. “They all want to know if you and Miss Martinelli are dating.” Sharon answered, not meeting her Aunt’s gaze.

“What?” Peggy practically yelled. “What would ever give you that idea?”

Sharon simply pointed up at a message written on Peggy’s whiteboard. Peggy whirled around quickly to check out the note that she had somehow missed up until now.  _I brought you some leftover’s for lunch. I’ll see you then!_ It had a smiley face drawn next to it.

“I fail to see what this had to do with the Egyptian Gods.” Peggy told them, crossing her arms to try and seem intimidating.

“Awe come on!” Skye Johnson shouted out. “This is important!” She slammed her hands on her desk and practically jumped out of her seat in frustration.

“I am still unsure as to why.” Peggy replied.

“Because Mr. Thompson keeps trying to make a move on her and it’s really gross.” Sharon chimed back in. “He walked into my class and asked her on a date while she was trying to teach.” The face she made as she spoke was most unbecoming for a woman, but then again, Peggy couldn't judge. As her brother said, she was the furthest thing from a lady.

“How many people even take her class?” Peggy asked the kids. “Half of my students are in her class.” It seemed like everyone and their pet cat was trying to get in a class with Angie.

“Everyone tries. Who doesn’t want to take a class with a celebrity.” Skye answered. All the student’s nodded in agreement. “Why do you think we actually pay attention in here?”

“Excuse me?”

“My bad.” Sharon said ducking her head. “I may have let slip that you’re kind of famous.” 

“Sharon!” She couldn't be mad at Sharon though. All one would have to do was Google Peggy Carter and fifty articles would come up about her. The top new story was her interview after the Olympics.

"I didn’t mean it! It just came out!” Sharon cried, “Don’t kill me in practice today!”

Peggy rolled her eyes. Before she had a chance to reply, the bell rang and class was out. “Alright everyone. Tomorrow is story time! Bring snacks and drinks.”

Once the class cleared out, Peggy slumped back into her desk chair. Her legs were acting up a little, but not much anymore. Laying in bad for a few days straight was probably not the best thing for them. Also heels probably didn't help her.

“Hey Peg!” Angie said, popping her head into the classroom. “Ready for lunch?”

Peggy nodded and slowly rose from her seat. Her legs were protesting, but she did her best not to let it show. Thankfully, Angie always seemed to know when Peggy was feeling off. She slid of one Peggy’s muscular arms over her shoulder and wrapped an arm around Peggy’s waist.

“Get my note?” She asked with a smile.

“I received some comments on it.” Peggy answered with a smile. “The students asked if we were dating.”

“Oh, what did you say, Miss Carter?” Angie asked her with a smile.

“I told them that I wasn’t sure how that related to Ancient Egyptian Gods.” Peggy answered with a grin.

The two laughed their way through the cafeteria at that. Some of the student’s turned to stare at the two teachers, but no one made any comments. Most simply grinned and went back to talking. Unknown to the two instructors, a betting pool was slowly being started.

* * *

 

At the end of practice, an Asian woman approached Peggy. She had just finished running drills with the girls when Peggy noticed her watching from the edge of the field. Once they caught eyes, Peggy had sent the girls to do their cool downs. It was nice to be able to run with her girls, it kept them on their toes, but also helped her build back her strength. Though today she may have taken it a bit hard. She would need a hot bath that night for sure.

Once Peggy made it to her typical seat at the edge of the field, the Asian woman started approaching her.

“Carter.” The woman said.

“May.” Peggy said simply, standing to meet her.

The Asian woman grinned and soon Peggy followed suit. They quickly embraced and laughed.

“What are you doing here, Melinda?”

“Dottie.” Melinda answered. Speak of the devil and she should appear… with her little devil minions. Dottie and a few others on the American National Team started racing across the field towards the English woman. A few meaning all of them.

“Oh bloody hell, why me.” Peggy mumbled as she saw the swarm of professional soccer players.

“Peggy!” They all shouted happily.

“Agh!” Peggy yelled, as they all started running at her. “No! Keep back! I’m still recovering!” Peggy shouted, but it was to no avail. Dottie reached her first and caught her in her arms. Then the others jumped in and laughed.

“What did I do to deserve this torture?” The English woman yelled as a joke.

“You agreed to try out!” Dottie called over the laughs. “So guess how you’re spending your next few nights?”

“Grading?” Peggy asked, hoping to get out of the inevitable team bonding exercises she would be forced into.

“Nice try, Carter. You’re being kidnapped.”

“Well piss.” Peggy mumbled. “Sharon, I’m being kidnapped. Tell your father I love him even though he is a complete arse.” Peggy yelled to her niece. “I’ll miss you! I’ll think of you always while these cruel heartless American’s torture me so.”

“Geez Aunt Peggy. Coach Martinelli is really rubbing off on you.” The girls all laughed at that and continued to pack up their things. “You better tell her that you’re being kidnapped too.”

“Oh right. Good point.” Peggy turned to look and Dottie. “If you could release me, that would be lovely. I have to text a friend that I am being kidnapped.”

“You’re girlfriend?” Dottie asked with a smile.

“We are not dating.” Peggy insisted.

“Sure!” The girls called from behind her.

“Oh go home!’ Peggy yelled at them. She then unlocked her phone and started texting a message to Angie. _I am afraid Dottie and the girls have come to kidnap me into doing something utterly ridiculous. If I do not respond in a few hours, assume the worst and blame Dottie._ She sent Dottie’s number to Angie so that the actress could have some way of keeping tabs on Peggy.

“Alright ladies, I surrender.” Peggy told them while holding up her arms in the universal sign of surrender.

Dottie absconded with Peggy’s phone and shoved her forward. “Let’s go bitches!”

Kidnapping turned out just to be dinner at a local Italian joint. The soccer players piled into the restaurant, filling it almost completely. As Peggy looked around, she saw many pictures that made the place feel homey. There was something about the decor that felt familiar to her, but Peggy couldn’t place it.

“Alright ladies, let’s welcome Peggy to her very first team dinner.” Melinda said to the girls. “We are very lucky to have her.”

“Yeah maybe we’ll win this year.” A woman, Victoria, snorted out. The whole table erupted in laughter then.

“Don’t count on it. I’m still a cripple according to my doctor.” Peggy commented before taking a drink from her water.

“Knowing you, you’ll still dominate.” Dottie commented simply. “Now tuck in as you English people say and enjoy the night. I promise I won’t let you get drunk.”

“That is a horrible stereotype that you only know about thanks to Harry Potter.” Peggy said while stuffing a breadstick in her mouth. “Oh my god these are amazing.” She said with her mouth full. Without hesitating, she took the whole basket of bread sticks and placed them right in front of her. “These are amazing.”

“Well if I knew that you like breadsticks so much, I’d’ve picked up a box before work every day, English!”

Peggy whirled around quickly, leaped to her feet and looked about to throw a breadstick at the intruder. Her eyes flashed with fear, momentarily but that was soon gone once she realized that it was Angie standing there. She almost spoke when she realized that her mouth was still full of breadstick. Once she chewed and swallowed, she spoke.

“Angie, I didn’t realize you were coming.” She said rather quietly.

Angie stepped closer to Peggy. She raised her hand to meet Peggy’s that was still holding a breadstick as if it was a dagger. “I didn’t mean to shock you. I’m sorry.” The actress told her quietly. She gently lowered Peggy’s hand and took the now crushed breadstick from her.

“It’s fine.” Peggy mumbled to her. “Just still a bit jumpy.”

“Understandable. C’mon, have a seat. I’m gonna go get you some more breadsticks and I’ll be back, kay?” Angie helped Peggy into her seat and then gave her a kiss on the cheek before wandering off to the back. When Peggy looked down, she realized that the basket of breadsticks had spilled all over the table. Not that it stopped the vultures known as the US Women’s Soccer team. half of them were already eaten and the other half were being fought over by the other women.

“You’re going to therapy.” Melinda said to her. It was not a question, it was a demand from her. She spoke quietly, trying not to let the other girls hear her. She didn’t want to embarrass Peggy even further.

“Steve and Bucky are taking me to the woman they saw when they came back.” Peggy answered equally as quiet. “I had an episode last week. The first real one I’ve ever had.”

“Dottie told me.” Melinda replied, looking at Dottie who was seemingly not paying attention and munching on a breadstick. “She was worried and still is, but she doesn’t know how to say it.”

“I’m fine.” Peggy insisted.

“No you’re not. You came back from a war where you saw far more combat than most people.” Melinda told her. “No one blames you for being a little messed up in the head.” Peggy shot her a glare but the woman brushed it off. “I was just as bad when I came back from my first deployment with the Air Force. Just make sure you get help. You know how loud the stadium gets. I can’t have you getting a mental breakdown. Got it.”

“Understood.” Peggy replied with a hint of a smile. She hadn’t known that Melinda was in the service, but she should have expected it. At this point, Angie returned with two baskets of breadsticks.

“Alright ladies, one for you and one for the Peg-let.” Angie said with a laughed.

“Yes!” Dottie screamed.

“Traitor!” Peggy declared.

“Will you two act like adults?” Melinda asked them before stealing a breadstick from Peggy’s basket.

“You are a horrible person, Dottie Underwood and I will kill you slowly and painfully.” Peggy declared in a low voice. She stabbed the woman with a breadstick, causing laughs all around the table.

“Alright Peg. Calm down.” Angie told her. “Now what can I get y’all? I already have Lasagna for the breadstick queen. Anyone else ready to order? Thing on the menu is the lasagna. Everythin’ is made fresh daily for it.”

“What?”

“Hush, Peg, I’m takin’ orders.” Angie told her. She ruffled Peggy’s hair and then put a kiss on the top of her head.

The girls all shrugged and the decision to have lasagna was pretty unanimous. That made orders easy for Angie.

“Alrightie. I’ll get them to bring out the entire damn pan. Maybe two if you eat like Peggy.” The table all roared with laughter, even Peggy. “Be right back!”

Peggy’s eyes followed Angie as she ran back to the kitchen. “Oi Dino! Give me two things of lasagna! The best you got! We got a whole table of soccer players here and they eat a helluva lot!” Peggy heard from her spot. She couldn’t help but laugh at it, and that’s when everything hit her. The reason the restaurant felt so comfy was because Angie decorated her home very similarly.

Peggy looked over to Dottie who smiled at her. “Finally figure it out? This little place belongs to your girl’s family! She suggested it actually.”

Go figure, Dottie and Angie had plotted this together. “I take it you’ve been planning this awhile?”

“Nah, we decided where to go at the last second. But here is better than invading a McDonalds or something. Thanks for giving her my number! Now it will be so much easier to kidnap you!” Dottie laughed before snagging one of Peggy’s breadsticks. "it would have been really useful the other day when someone wouldn't answer my text messages."

Peggy chose not to even respond. Instead she grabbed another breadstick and glared at the table. Sensing she said the wrong thing, Dottie slipped her arm around Peggy and pulled her into an awkward half hug.

“Alright, I got a feast coming out for y’all soon!” Angie declared, walking back to the table. She brought back a pitcher of water and refilled all of their glasses. “Did anyone come help y’all and get drinks yet?”

“No.” The whole table chorused.

“We don’t mind drinking water though!” Dottie said quickly. “We need to stay hydrated and all.”

“Speak for yourself! I want wine!” Another woman shouted at Dottie causing more laughs.

Angie rolled her eyes and then shouted across the store to a young man. “Oi Frannie! Any reason why you haven’t gotten to these ladies?”

“Ain’t my table!” The boy shouted back before turning back to his customers.

“Well whose table is it?” Angie shouted at him.

“Yours now!” The boy shouted.

“Aw hell no! I’m here eatin’! I just got off of work! I ain’t working a second job! This ain’t college all over again!” Angie shouted. “You better find someone real quick mister or-”

“Angela!” An older woman hollered from the back. “Can you stop screaming at your nephew for two minutes? Come back here please.”

“Ugh.” Angie groaned. “I’ll be back… again.” The girls couldn’t help but laugh at the poor actress’ misfortune.

Their eyes all followed Angie’s form back to where the older woman was and they eagerly watched the quiet exchange of words. The whole event was comical. It started off with Angie getting chastised and then her arguing back. Finally Angie said something to make the older woman stop and look over at the table. Naturally, everyone averted their eyes but returned to looking at them two seconds later.

While this was happening, Peggy was happily munching on her basket of breadsticks. Dottie and Melinda were secretly stealing some, but Peggy hardly noticed. At some point in the conversation, the older woman locked eyes with Peggy and a sense of impending doom fell over Peggy.

“May, cover me,” Peggy whispered frantically.

“Oh hell no. You deal with your girlfriend’s family.” Melinda said cracking a small grin.

“Wait no! Ma! Stop!” The table heard as Angie tried to stop the older woman from heading over to the table of girls.

“Face your death with some courage, Peg-let.” Dottie whispered to her.

“I’d rather be in shot out of the sky a third time.” Peggy hissed before the woman approached her. Slowly, Peggy rose to her feet and looked at the woman.

“Uh Peg. This is my ma. Ma, this is Peggy. We work together. She lives with Steve and Bucky.” Angie said quietly, trying to gauge her mother’s reaction to the English woman.

The two stood and looked at each other for a long time. Peggy stood rigid with her shoulder squared toward the italian woman. Her gaze was hardened and she looked ready for battle. It was definitely a look Angie did not see often. To be honest, it was a bit scary. Now she understood all the stories that the Howler’s had told about her.

“So this is the woman, Angela.” Angie’s mother said, studying Peggy. Her face remained impassive, which made Peggy a little nervous. Thankfully her military bearing saved her.

“Yes ma. This is Peggy. We work together.” Angie said in the calmest voice she could.

“You have been hoarding my daughter. She never visits.” The woman said, looking at Peggy. “Always at your house or your little soccer games.”

“Football.” Peggy corrected her. “And the children love her. And Bucky and Steve, though I suppose you could count those two as children given the way they behave.”

The woman laughed. “Hah! I like this one Angela. Keep her.” She then turned back to Peggy. “She says you eat a lot. Good. I like that in a woman.”

“So do I.” Angie mumbled. She was instantly smacked with a menu.

“Angela Francesca Martinelli!”

“Worth it.” Angie replied, trying not to laugh at the look on Peggy’s face. Apparently military bearing could only help her so much. “Alright English, sit down before your legs give out on ya.”

The English woman nodded, still a little dumbstruck and settle back down into her seat. Angie’s mother went off to the back to get everyone’s food and everyone was having a lovely time. Even Peggy was enjoying herself among her new teammates. There was no doubt that Peggy would have a lot of work before being able to play on their level, but that was what teammates were for. That, and Angela Martinelli was going to be standing by her side the whole damn time.

When dinner finished, everyone went their separate ways. Melinda gave Peggy her number so that they could keep in contact about Peggy’s therapy. Dottie and a few of the other girls offered to come by and help her with her leg training and even offered open invitations to one of the few professional women’s practices in the area.

“Just lemme know if you ever want to come scrimmage.” Dottie told her before they split off. "I’ll let people know you’re coming. It will be good fun. Bring your niece. Hell bring your team. It will be fun playing with them.”

“I’ll think about it. Thank you.” Peggy said.

“Don’t worry about it. Talk to you later.”

Peggy parted and then slipped into Angie’s car. “Well that was interesting.”

“Sorry about my ma. She’s a piece of work.” Angie said quickly, pulling out of the parking lot. 

“She makes good breadsticks though.” Peggy said, opening the box of still warm breadsticks. “These are much better than Olive Garden.”

“Olive Garden is an insult to Italians everywhere.” Angie declared passionately.

“I still like their breadsticks.” Peggy answered, not wanting to get into an argument. “But these are better.”

“Damn straight.” The two laughed and then enjoyed casual conversation all the way home. Well, it was mostly Angie talking and Peggy dozing off. When Angie pulled up to the house, she parked the car and slipped out to help Peggy to the door. Normally, Peggy would have argued, but it was late and she wanted a shower and bed.

“You know, next time we have late nights, I’m just going to take you back to my place. It sounds like a much better plan.” Angie told her.

“Mmm, sounds lovely.” Peggy mumbled out. “Next time.”

“Sounds good, English.” Angie replied with a smile. She escorted Peggy to the door, where Steve and Bucky were waiting. She gave Peggy a quick kiss before the boys took the exhausted and tired Peggy back to sleep.

“Thanks for watching her.” Bucky said as he watched Steve half carry Peggy back to her room.

“It’s no trouble. When does she have her appointment?” Angie asked him.

“We’re taking her on Saturday morning. Before the game.” Bucky replied. “I wouldn’t ask her about it. Knowing Peggy, she won’t want to talk about it.”

“I’ll be fine, Buck. I’ll see you in the morning.”

"Night.”

When Angie got in bed, she found that Peggy had sent her a text. _Thank you for tonight, darling. Don’t tell your mother, but I like your lasagna better._ Angie couldn’t help but laugh at that.

_Good night Peg-let_

_Traitor_


End file.
